Bad Decisions
by Onyxrose777
Summary: A killer stalks the interspecies couples of Zootopia leaving the ZPD's newest rookie to question the wisdom of continuing down his new path, or turn back to his old ways, despite the pain it will cause. Rated M for language, violence and sex.
1. First Day Jitters

**Author's Note: The first four chapters are of Nick's first day at the ZPD, and for the sake of accuracy, I have taken a few lines and scenes directly from the movie. I do not own the characters or the lines from those scenes. Zootopia fans will recognize them quickly. Please understand that it is not my intent to plagiarize, I merely wanted this fanfic to take place where the movie left off and some overlap was necessary. Please enjoy.**

"First day! Are you excited?" Judy asked outside precinct one. Her paws were clasped before her and she was bouncing on her toes, summoning all her willpower to keep from hopping around like a hyperactive child.

Nick adjusted his tie and aviators and admired his reflection in in the tinted window of a parked car. He had to admit, he looked awfully good in a uniform. His red fur was slicked back neatly and his pants and shirt were fitted and pressed. He even tucked in his shirt and had his tie pulled all the way up to his neck. He looked like a real cop, and not one of those flabby, doughnut guzzling cops, but like a cop who could take down any perpetrator no matter the size. In fact, Nick felt like he could probably could stop a charging rhino if he wanted to. He was in the best shape of his life since coming out of the ZPD academy. He imagined pulling over a convertible full of luscious vixens and stepping out of one of the oversized cruisers and causing a scene. He could get an awful lot of phone numbers with this get up.

"Ni-i-i-ick!" His new partner yanked on his sleeve towards the building. "I asked if you were excited."

"I heard ya, Carrots, and I think you're excited enough for the both of us," he replied as they stepped through the building.

Inside there was already a flurry of activity despite the early hour. Mammals of all sorts were passing through the spacious reception hall as Judy lead Nick on a quick tour of the building. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he had already been here and had completely scoped out the large building. He familiarized himself with the locations of important rooms, bathrooms and acceptable hiding spots and exit strategies. Despite trying to turn over a new leaf, he still couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't belong in this place. It was as if at any moment someone would come out from behind a door and tell him that there was some mistake and he should have never received his badge.

After a short walk, they made their way to the bullpen with a few minutes to spare. Nick glanced at the other officers in the room. He saw lions, proud and virtuous, wolves, loyal and fierce, rhinos, stubborn and brave, and elephants, strong and wise. All animals, both predator and prey, were creatures known for their positive virtues plus the one quick, sneaky fox. Doubt grew heavy in his belly and he was further irritated that there were no smaller chairs, increasing his feeling that he did not belong in a place like this. His mood brightened when Judy hopped up into a giant chair and patted the space next to her eagerly, inviting him to share the space. He wondered if she felt the same way when she first joined the force.

"Ready to make the world a better place?" She shrugged her shoulders in glee and flashed the fox a buck-toothed grin as he climbed up into the tall chair. Her delight was infectious and he could feel a glimmer of hope replace his doubt that had been rising like a specter.

After a loud alerting yell, a series of thumps and hoots erupted from the animals as the door opened and Chief Bogo stepped through the door. He silenced them all with a single shout as he adjusted his papers.

"We have some new recruits with us this morning, including our first fox" he called motioning towards Nick. The fox was pleasantly surprised that the large grazer had acknowledged him, especially after his brief meeting with him many months ago, and the stories that Judy shared. The Chief then turned to his clip board and continued, "Who cares?"

"Ha! You should have your own line of inspirational greeting cards, Sir," Nick's quick wit threw the words out of his mouth before good sense had the chance to stop them. A few chuckles followed his joke and Nick decided that maybe he could fit in with the other officers, even if only through his charm than an actual talent for law enforcement. This wasn't to say that he thought he would be a bad cop. With a little forward advice from his bunny buddy, Nick began training both his mind and body early and could graduate with superb marks, missing valedictorian by a few scare points. His background provided him with a unique perspective into the criminal mind which had already proven useful on the infamous night howler case. By all respects, he had the makings of a potentially great cop, especially partnered with someone like Judy who was being praised as one of the most driven and successful rookie cops the ZPD had ever seen. And yet, he couldn't shake the voice in the back of his mind that kept telling him that he didn't have what it took to be a good cop.

The chief passed out assignments, jokingly giving the smallest cops parking duty before announcing their actual case; patrol duty while looking for a speedster down in Savannah Central. The two animals made their way towards the garage, relieved. Judy lead Nick to their assigned cruiser and he froze in his tracks at the size of the monster vehicle.

"That's not our car, right Carrots?"

"No, it's MY car. While you were off taking tests and running laps, I was here keeping busy and gaining ranks. This beauty has been modified specifically for me," Judy explained with pride as she opened the driver side door and showed Nick the extra high seat and modified pedals while shaking a set of keys.

"I wanna drive it," Nick whispered, his jaw hung open with envy.

"No way! Senior officer sets the rules of the car and this is my baby," she bragged as she leapt into the driver's seat.

"Ah, Carrots! You must let me drive it sometime. Please?"

"Get in the car rookie." She turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. "Hey, if you're lucky, I might let you work the siren."

Nick rolled his eyes and climbed into the passenger side, tail wagging behind him. The streets looked different from high up in the cab of the monster machine. As they drove out into the sun, the fox threw on his shades and gazed out the window. From the corner of her eye she could see his conman blank face, but from her angle she could also see his eyes behind his shades and she swore she could see a certain sparkle to them.

The morning was peaceful and the two animals wasted their first hour of the day cruising up and down the street laughing and joking. Nick was enjoying the relaxing morning when the inboard computer began flashing the code 11-82 with an address. He looked to his partner who gave him a nod and he typed a few lines on the computer to confirm that they were on the case. A navigation screen popped up leading Judy to the location of the traffic accident that had been reported. When they arrived on the scene they could see the metallic carnage as a green compact car had its nose smashed into the rear wheel hub of a rusted gray pickup. A bull and a coyote were speaking with each other, presumably the drivers of the vehicles, in an irritable manner until they spotted the cruiser pull up. The bull gave a relieved sigh until he saw the animals that came out of the giant vehicle.

"What the fuck is this? I thought I called for the cops to come? Not the fucking safety patrol!"

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to watch your language as you tell us what happened," Judy commanded calmly in her policing tone of voice.

"Ha, no. Not until we get some real cops over here, not a couple of stuffed animals," The bull huffed. Nick looked sideways to his partner as she gave a tired sigh. After all the press coverage of the night howler case, he would have thought people would be giving Judy all the respect in the world. Could people have forgotten about the famous rookie hero already?

"Sir, we are real cops and we can either take an accident report here or at the precinct, your choice," she responded, her foot tapping against the asphalt.

"Uh, I can tell you what happened," the coyote barely spoke above a whisper, his tail was pressed tight against the inside of his thigh and his ears were pinned back. His posture was a classic canine signal of subservience as he glanced nervously between the cops and the raging bull. "I-I was driving along when he turned out of the alley. I couldn't stop in time."

"Yeah, because you were driving like a fucking maniac! How else could you not see me. Don't listen to that trickster," the bull roared, his hooves flailed as he spoke. Nick raised an eyebrow at the turn of phrase used by the bull. It was considered archaic insult to call an animal a trickster, but many mammals, like foxes and coyotes still held the reputation.

"I wasn't going that fast. I was stopped at that sign over there. There's no way I could pick up that much speed," the coyote wrung his paws together as he spoke.

"Alright," The bull was about to start yelling when Judy cut him off, "I've heard enough. Let's get a license and registration from both of you, my partner and I will go start filing the reports and call the tow in." The bull thrust his papers towards the rabbit in a huff while Nick took the coyote's papers. He gave the frightened canine an assuring smile before he turned back to the cruiser with his partner.

"Ok, Rookie, so what do you make of the scene?" Judy asked in the car as she began looking up the drivers' information. It was a common tactic that new recruits were quizzed constantly to make sure that they were competently trained. "Let's see what you've got."

Nick scoffed, "The bull is obviously at fault. You can tell by the positioning of the cars. He cut off the other driver, who couldn't stop in time, just like he said."

"Ok, what else?"

"What else? The bull was trying to use his size to bully his way out of a ticket but it's an open and shut case. What else is there?" Nick gave the rabbit a perplexed look.

"I shouldn't have to tell an ex-'entrepreneur' to work the angles," she pointed up and it took Nick a moment to recognize that she was pointing at a surveillance camera set high on a telephone pole. "That's one of ours. Let's see what it can show us, hmm?" She logged into the city camera system and found the data of the camera that was currently pointed towards them. The cops leaned in close together as Judy moved the video location to the time of the crash. The camera pointed at the nearby intersection and they saw the green compact car soar through the stop sign in full color. It wasn't possible to tell the coyote's exact speed, but they were both sure it was well over the 30-mph limit by at least double.

"Well, look at that, he really had me convinced. You know, Carrots, you would actually make a pretty good hustler," Nick leaned back impressed.

"Ugh, how dare you," Judy laughed, remembering the time she had told him something similar. "Could you imagine us in reversed roles?" Nick did imagine it for a moment, and the thought of himself as a determined, perky, naive rookie, trying to coerce a cynical, sneaky rabbit was just ridiculous.

"OK, so what do we do about Rocky and Bullwinkle out there, now that we know the accident wasn't the bull's fault," Nick asked.

"Just watch," Judy replied with a wink as she printed out a few slips of paper. Nick followed her as she went to the bull first.

"Ok, Sirs. I've got the tow trucks coming. Mr. Holstein, unfortunately the lane was not yours to take so I will be issuing a small citation. Consider it a warning," Judy explained in her cop voice. Nick noticed a small smirk from the coyote. "And as for you Mr. Nizhoni," Judy continued, "Speeding, reckless driving and running through a stop sign all caught on candid camera. Good luck contesting this in court."

The coyote's ears drooped as he took the several citations from the bunny cop. He stared at the papers in shock for a moment before he crinkled them up. His meek face wrinkled in fury and the fur on his back raised up before he glanced back at Judy.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Nizhoni growled viciously. The muscles in his face twitched, and sensing danger, Nick took a single step between the angry canine and his senior partner.

"You know, baring your teeth at an officer is considered resisting an executive officer, which can result in jail time of up to one year and fines of $10,000, so I would watch that temper if I were you, friend," Nick spoke while glaring at the coyote from over his glasses. His ears were laid back and his expression was daring the slightly larger canine to try anything. The coyote glared at him before he turned and punched the air as he walked away. Nick smiled to himself, proud of the way he handled his first confrontation and its results even though his heart was racing. He looked to his partner and she gave him an approving nod. Maybe he could do this whole cop thing.

With the coyote's true nature revealed and the bull's previous outbursts, the duo decided to stick around until the tow trucks showed up about ten minutes later. Judy relaxed in the seat of the giant cruiser with a sigh and looked over to her partner. He got the strange feeling that he had done something wrong but he couldn't place his claw on it.

"Hey, Nick. That was sweet how you stepped in front of that coyote for me, and you handled yourself well, but please don't do it again," she gave him a hurt expression which only caused confusion on his part.

"I don't understand," he admitted.

"I know, that's why I'm bringing it up," she sighed as she searched for the right words. "We are both cops now. We went through the same training, we are in the same position, and aside from a small amount of seniority, you and I are equals. You wouldn't stand between a dangerous perpetrator and Fangmeyer or Delgato or even McHorn. I don't know if it is because we're friends, or because I'm a bunny or even if it's because I'm a female, but I don't want to be treated differently from the other officers. I can take care of myself and, even if I'm in a position where I can't, I don't want you putting yourself in danger for me. Ok?" She looked up at her partner with big sad eyes and Nick suddenly felt like a heel.

"So, you don't want me to have your back?"

She smiled. "No, you watch my back and I'll watch yours. I just don't want you watching my back and front and sides. You'll never be able to watch over yourself that way. I don't want you ever taking a bullet for me."

"Alright Fluff. I get it. A strong, independent doe such as yourself doesn't need some valiant, handsome tod, like me, taking care of you. You're just one of the males," Nick smiled. He wasn't sure if Judy could ever be 'just one of the males' to him but he could certainly fake it while on duty.

 **Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed chapter 1 of Bad Decisions. This story is rate M for strong language (as you saw), violence and sex. This story is not going to be for the faint of heart (I'm looking at you rabid WildeHopps shippers) but I hope you will enjoy it and stick with me none the less. I will be updating every third day.**


	2. Lunch Break

Another uneventful hour passed before Judy finally gave up and put out a 10-7 for lunch break.

"Wow, normally things aren't this dead. Not that I should be complaining about a lack of crime," she commented as she pulled into a parking spot outside a small pizza joint. The place was cute and trendy with a porch for outdoor dining hiding the intricate brick cladding of the building itself and it was located on a busy intersection where Judy suspected they might actually see some action. The two cops ordered their pizzas, veggie lovers for Judy and anchovies for Nick, and sodas and ate on the porch. The weather was wonderful and despite a slightly awkward conversation that didn't even last five minutes, the day was going along great.

"Nicky, is that you?"

Well the day was going along great, emphasis on the was. Nick cringed, recognizing the voice that called out to him.

"I heard you went blue but I didn't believe it."

Both cops looked up to see a curvy vixen approach the porch near them. She rested her elbows on the railing and placed her head in one paw as she looked Nick up and down several times. "You look good in a uniform there, Nicky."

"Victoria! And don't you look good with those jeans on your ass instead of around your ankles for once," Nick replied. Judy was shocked at Nick's rude comment but the vixen just smiled like she had just heard an amusing joke.

"Aw, I miss that wit of yours," Judy could tell she was trying to flirt but she couldn't quite tell if Nick was flirting back. He looked back at the vixen through hooded eyes and a smile that held no joy what so ever.

"I wish I could say the same except I don't miss you or your wit, not that you have any to speak of," he replied in an almost charming voice.

"That is a shame, 'cause I've been thinking about you a lot lately. I missed you last winter Nicky. Don't tell me you found another den to crawl up into," the vixen bit her lip and leaned forward. "I bet she doesn't know how to get you going like I do."

The smile faded off Nick's face and his expression turned to one of irritation and Judy's ears turned red. She noticed the fur on her partner's neck start to raise and she cleared her throat which caught the attention of the vixen who shot the little bunny a dangerous glare. Judy was suddenly very intimidated by the fox. The vixen looked back at Nick with the same smile she had on before as if Judy never existed in the first place.

"Well, if you ever decide you need a vixen who knows how to treat you right, give me a call," she winked at him before she turned to leave with an exaggerated swing to her hips.

"Oh, what a shame I seem to have deleted you off my phone. Oh well," Nick called as she left, his face relaxed once more.

"No you didn't," she responded confidently over her shoulder as she sauntered off. Nick's face was pointed out towards the street but Judy could see his eyes followed the vixen. His body seemed relaxed save for a loud tapping that came from his claw as it irritably drummed against his cup.

"So," Judy tried to break the awkward silence, "I'm guessing that was an old flame?"

Nick snapped his face and and wide eyes towards the rabbit. He wore a wide grin that held no happiness, rather it was the grin of someone whose mind was about to snap in two. "An old flame? Yeah, an old flame that comes straight from the pits of hell! That was no vixen, that was a soul crushing she-beast who needs to go die from the bites of a million fire ants."

Judy jumped back at his unexpected reaction before she relaxed with a laugh, "So tell me how you really feel about her, Slick. God, do you feel this way about all your ex's or does she just hold a special place in your heart?"

"Oh she's special alright," he replied relaxing back into his usual self. "Help me out, Carrots, if I ever get back with that bitch, just take your gun and shoot me right here. Right between the eyes."

Judy let out a snort of laughter, "Seriously? I mean, sure I was getting a rude, possessive vibe off her, but she can't be that bad, can she?"

Nick scratched the back of his head trying to decide exactly what he should tell. It wasn't that he didn't trust her with his secrets, but he valued her friendship and if she knew all the details of his past, he was afraid she would see him differently. He was committed to this new life and he didn't want anything, or anyone, from his old life to pop up and threaten it.

"Nick?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

He sighed, as he pulled himself back from his thoughts, "Let's just say that she had a way to bring out the worst in me."

Judy nodded, she knew that there were parts of himself he still wasn't comfortable sharing. She decided not to press, hoping that he would tell her when he was ready. "Don't worry about it, Nicky." she said with a sly grin, using the same name the vixen had, and placing extra emphasis on it.

"Nooooo," he replied as a casual, almost comedic, warning, though not a warning to be taken lightly. "Don't call me Nicky, ever! Nick. Nicholas. Wilde. Slick. Partner. Officer. Fox. Hell, I'll even accept Jerk and Asshole, but don't call me Nicky."

This wasn't the reaction she was expecting. Thinking back to earlier in the cruiser when he said she would make a good hustler, she was expecting another role reversal from when he had called her Carrots for the first time. Perhaps the offence was great enough that even joking about the name was out of the question.

They finished their pizzas and hopped back into the cruiser and worked their way to the business districts, hoping to spot the street racer they had been assigned to catch when Nick let out a sudden gasp and threw his arm across Judy. Thinking something was horribly wrong she slammed down on her breaks, her ears and eyes darted in all directions, but she was unable to find the source of her partner's alarm. She looked over at him and saw that his mouth hung open in shock as he looked past Judy out the window. She looked around again but still she saw nothing wrong and when she turned back to him his face grew excited and he spoke only one word.

"Pawpsicles!"

"What?" She asked but he was already unbuckling himself and heading out the cruiser. She parked the car and chased after him and saw that he was chatting with a fluffy white vixen selling paw shaped frozen treats. The scene looked somewhat familiar until a deep, angry voice began barking at her new partner.

"No! You get out of here! You can't just abandon me in the middle of a good thing and then come back to fuck things up as soon as I start fixin' shit," Finnick yelled as he came out from where he was lurking.

"Hey buddy! No, you've got me all wrong. I saw the pawpsicle stand and I wanted to come check it out, that's all. I think it's great you're keeping it up. We made some good money together didn't we?" Nick said trying not to sound threatening.

"Yeah, 'sept now there's no longer any 'we' is there? I had to take over and go hire some new help," he gestured at the small, cute fox, who wasn't much taller than Judy.

"Uh, guys. Can you take this somewhere else? I've got work to do and it's almost show time," The white fox said with a bit of attitude.

"Oh, uh, yeah we'll get out of your fur, here let me buy one of those first," Nick said as he pulled out a few bills and gave them to the vixen. She handed him the frozen treat with a glare before the cops turned to walk away.  
The small fox grumbled as he returned to his spot by the recycling containers. Nick watched as the vixen's glare turned into a pleasant smile as she called to a group of lemmings who were pouring out of a nearby building. Her sweet voice and perky attitude were catching the attention of the lemmings quickly and he felt a small pang of nostalgia as the cops returned to the cruiser.

"Wow, Nick are all vixens grumps or is it just because of you?" Judy asked, narrowly missing another vehicle as she pulled back into traffic.

"Oh, I don't know. Are all rabbits bad drivers, or is it just you?" He echoed back as he licked his new treat. Judy slammed her foot down on the brake at she came to a stop light, jerking the fox forward.

"Oops."

Nick chuckled as peeled the popsicle off his face. "You know you love me," he crooned.

"Do I know that? Yes, yes I do." Judy responded, glad to see that her partner was in a better mood than during lunch. She was about to pull forward when the light turned green, but she was abruptly cut off by a speeding sports car. She gave a quick nod to her partner before they pulled out to pursue the speedster. The bright red, sleek vehicle didn't put up much of a chase though and both cops were shocked as they realized who was driving the vehicle.

"Sir do you realize you were going 115 miles per hour?" Judy asked in her cop voice. The driver of the car rolled down the window with a guilty look on his face and Nick's heart leapt as he saw the familiar face.

"Flash, Flash, Hundred yard dash!" He exclaimed over his glasses.

"Niiiiiiick!" The sloth replied with a slow smile.

"What? How can YOU be the speedster?" Judy asked dumbfounded.

"Officer Hopps, I'm surprised at you. Haven't we discussed this once before," he scolded the bunny before turning to the sloth, "You know, when I first brought Carrots here into the DMV, she couldn't believe that the place was run entirely by sloths, and I said to her 'What? Because they're sloths they can't be fast?' Didn't I say that?"

Judy stood gaping at the two mammals chatting like everything was fine. "Wait, so you mean to tell me, that you really can go fast? That day when we were at the DMV, you could have quickly gotten the information I needed but instead you wasted MY time endangering both my career and the life of an innocent otter?" She was practically screaming at this point and her cheeks and ears turned a deep shade of red.

"Whoa, Carrots relax, the last thing we need is police brutality," Nick tried to calm the enraged bunny. She turned to the fox, ready to unleash her rage on him when her radio crackled to life.

"Hopps. Wilde. We have a 10-54, possibly a 187 in your area. Can you respond? I repeat, we have a 10-54 in your area."

Judy and Nick glared at each other in shock.

"187? That's-" Nick began to ask but stopped when the bunny gave him a quick nod before she spoke into her radio.

"This is Hopps. We copy the 10-54. Send coordinates we are en route."

"Consider this a warning Flash," Nick called as he ran back into the cruiser. "The Chief wants you brought in. Keep your nose clean!" Nick hopped into the cruiser and soon they were flying down the street with the siren blaring.

"So much for a quiet day. Eh, Carrots?" Nick asked the bunny but she was too focused on the road to look back or respond. For his first day on the job, he wasn't sure if he was ready for what was coming up next. His mind flew back to training and the steps they would have to take.

"First day on the job and we get a damn homicide."

* * *

 **Author's note: Ok, that is the last time I take scenes directly from the movie because, frankly, it makes me feel dirty. Also, I wan't to share with you guys that each chapter of Bad Decisions is coming with a unique preview image, which on this site is kind of tiny, but if you check me out on DeviantArt (same user name) than you can see it in more detail. The image for this chapter and last chapter aren't really finished because it was a last minute decision I made, but chapter three's image will be in full color and I will be posting that Tuesday as a little teaser.**

 **Thanks as always for the reviews, favorites and follows. They get me really hyped up and I love responding to the comments.**


	3. First Responders

Judy pulled the cruiser to a screeching halt outside their destination in a residential part of the city. A nervous looking wallaby was wringing her paws nervously as the cops leapt out of the vehicle. They approached the small home quickly.

"Are you the one who called this in?" Judy asked. The wallaby merely nodded, unable to form words. "Ok, stay right there, we'll be back." With that, the two cops rushed up to the front door, their weapons held at the ready.

"ZPD we are coming in!" Nick yelled trying to sound more intimidating than he felt. "Put your weapons down and come out where we can see you." He wasn't even sure if there was anyone alive in the house, but he followed his training and knew that by bluffing he knew he could alleviate the chances of a surprise attack if he was wrong.

The two animals entered the house forcefully and checked the entryway for possible combatants. Nick was hit immediately by the scent of blood and death and his throat tightened. Assured of their immediate safety they began their sweep of the home. It wasn't long before they found the victims spread in the living room.

Seeing pictures of bloody and mangled corpses was one thing, Nick decided, but seeing it in real life was another. The scent was much stronger in the living room and the carnage of the scene left the rookie fighting wave after wave of nausea. Before him lay a male prairie dog, mid twenties. His arms were bound behind him and he was covered in his own blood from the wide and vicious gash across his throat, his face was frozen in a state of panic. Blood from the gash was splattered everywhere. However, if Nick thought the prairie dog was bad, he was nothing compared to the the second victim, a female meerkat. She too appeared to be in her mid twenties but her body was in much worse condition. She had been stripped of her clothes and her face and limbs had become mangled from an apparent and savage bleating. Her body was coated in blood and littered with deep, stab wounds. The gore from the murders was everywhere and Nick could even see chunks of flesh scattered about on the walls and floors.

"Nick, focus on the sweep. Don't look in there. Remember your training," Judy commanded when she noticed that he let out a small gag. Nick snapped back to attention and gave her a small nod. Carefully they searched the entire house, but whoever had attacked the small mammals was long gone.

"Dispatch this is Officer Hopps calling in an 11-44. Area is secure. It's a mess though, we are gonna need a major clean up crew. Officer Wilde is securing the location as we speak," Judy gave her partner a quick glance and he knew her call was also an order to him. Both animals walked back outside. Judy began speaking to the wallaby and Nick went to the cruiser to get police tape and a few cones. His paws shook as he opened the trunk of the cruiser.

 _What a first day. What a fucking first day. If everyday is like this I'm going to have to take up drinking at a professional level._

Slowly he strung the police tape between the thin, iron poles on the front porch and across the back door before he returned to his partner.

"I just can't believe this happened," the wallaby was saying to the officer, "You really couldn't meet a nicer couple."

"OK Mrs. Canberra, I appreciate you talking to me," Nick noticed that, for once, Judy wasn't using her tough cop voice. In fact, with Judy's laid back ears, her large eyes and forward shoulders, she looked more like a grief counselor than a cop. "I've got the homicide unit coming in to investigate, I'm sure they are going to want to hear everything you just told me. Do you think you are ready for that? Do you need anything when they get here?"

Mrs. Canberra shook her head with a small sniffle, "I'd like to call my husband, for support."

Judy touched the Wallaby's hand gently and gave her a sweet smile and the wallaby tried to smile back, though Nick could tell it took her great effort. When she walked away to make the phone call Judy turned back to her partner with a sigh.  
"How you holding up, Slick?" she asked.

"I-I don't know. That, uh, that was really something else. Please tell me this isn't an everyday thing," Nick ran his paw across the back of his neck.

"No," Judy rubbed the fox's arm, trying to comfort him, as she spoke gently, "This is rare and you're doing really well. The first time I saw a real dead body I held it together just long enough to do my job, and at the first opportunity I had, I threw up everywhere."

It was just then that an undercover vehicle pulled up. Judy recognized the three animals that made their way out of the vehicle, although Nick did not. All he saw were three rather grumpy looking older predators. He followed the bunny's lead as she approached the group.

"Officer Hopps, first responder," she introduced herself stiffly, "This is my partner, Officer Wilde. The crime scene is secure and ready for investigation."

The hyena who had ridden in the back of the car walked past the officers as if they weren't even there. The other animals, a large timber wolf with scruffy graying fur and and a chubby raccoon dog stopped to speak to the officers, although the raccoon dog did not look impressed as he glared at Judy. The wolf took a long drag off his cigarette before he began speaking, "Detective Lupe, and this here is Tanuki. The ray of sunshine that just went in was the coroner, Adams. You said your name was Hopps? As in the night howler case about a year ago?"

Judy's ears shot straight up and turned just a little bit redder. "Y-yes sir," she replied.

"Thought so. You caused quite a stir. You ever think of working homicide, Hopps?" The wolf asked before he took another drag.

"No, uh no, I haven't, sir," she shrank before the large predator like she was a small child, unsure of where the conversation was going. She didn't notice, unlike her partner, the raccoon dog roll his eyes.

"That's a shame. Well, show us what you've found so far," Lupe commanded as he threw his cigarette against the ground and snuffed it out with his tough back paw. Judy talked through their procedures, going over everything that had happened since they had arrived. Tanuki pulled out a camera and was taking pictures of the scene and Nick couldn't help but wonder what he was looking for as he crouched and stretched, taking photos at every possible angle.

Nick watched the coroner as he jabbed a long metal device down into the prairie dog's corpse and he felt the blood drain from his face.

"What's wrong with your partner?" Lupe interrupted Judy's explanations when he saw Nick reach for the wall to steady himself.

Judy turned towards her partner and gently placed a paw on his back. Nick responded with a weak smile and a thumbs up, though he didn't risk opening his mouth lest his stomach betray him.

"It's his first day," she explained gently.

"Tell him to get his damn paws off the wall! There could be prints there you incompetent beat cops!" Tanuki growled.

The wolf gave a huff and Nick took his hands away from the wall. "Some first day. Don't worry greenhorn, it doesn't get a lot worse than this," Lupe said with small smile.

"I have pictures of axe and chainsaw murders in my office that would disagree," Adams piped in as he scribbled some notes on a clipboard. "Not to mention bodies that have already started to rot before we arrive. You don't know what bad smells like until you've had to cut open a body a week into decomp. The abdomen swells up like a balloon and they leak this nasty blood foam everywhere."

With these words, and watching how the coroner fiddled with with the open gash on the prairie dog's neck, Nick rushed out of the house, past the front porch and placed himself on the opposite of the cruiser and gasped for air. The summer heat did nothing to help his nausea, but at least being away from the smell of blood and the words of the grizzled old homicide investigators helped him regain his cool.

Back inside the three males chuckled, pleased with themselves, but the one small female was not pleased. She glared at the males and moved to follow her partner when she was stopped by the wolf. "Hold on, Hopps. Let your partner be, I want to hear what you think happened here."

"Me? But isn't that your job? No disrespect," Judy shot but then corrected herself, though she was still just a little bit mad for her partner's sake.

"Humor me."

Judy sighed before she looked back at the crimes scene. She took a moment to think before she spoke though. "The female is in far worse condition than the male, which leads me to think that the murderer has something against females. The male is bound so I'm guessing that he bore witness for at least part of the meerkat's murder. The female is not bound, so I would wager that the murderer is large enough that he was able to restrain her on his own."

"You said 'he.' Why?" The wolf interrupted.

Judy thought for a moment, "This level of violence is more common among males. Females tend not to play with their victims this much. This also leads me to believe that our murderer is a predator, possibly feline."

The wolf nodded his head slowly, "So, tell me the story."

"I, uh, I think the murderer was somehow able to take control of the victims. He bound the male and made him watch, or used him as leverage as he beat and murdered the female. Then he turned and killed the male." Judy said as Nick walked back into the house.

"What do you think Adams?"

"Not a cat," he replied, "Cats tend to leave claw marks, this meerkat was beaten with a blunt object before she was stabbed and the dog was killed using a thin blade, maybe a utility knife."

"So we are looking for a medium to large sized predator who either can't get a date, or has mommy issues, maybe both," Lupe thought out loud. "But how did he get in? How was he able to restrain the male? What is the connection between the vics and and the perp? Why did this happen? Tanuki?"

The raccoon dog shrugged as he continued taking pictures. "At this point I can only confirm what's been said. I'll be able to figure out positioning and have a time frame shortly though."

"The door is fine," Nick added weakly. All the eyes looked at him, no one had noticed him quietly sneak back into the building. "You asked how the murderer got in. The doors are fine and unlocked, so no forced entry. The murderer was someone the victims would have allowed into their home." Nick's stomach still felt weak, though he was determined to stick around as much as he could.

The investigators nodded.

"Alright, I'm going to talk to the witness, Sheila Canberra was it?" Lupe turned to Judy as he spoke, "Officers, you two finish up your duties and watch the perimeter, take note of and keep out the civilians that wander in."

Judy nodded dutifully as did Nick. He was grateful that he was going to be stationed outside and away from the bodies, even if it was a grunt assignment. The two officers took turns using the computer in the cruiser to file their reports while the memories of the crime scene were fresh in their minds. Afterwards they ended up wandering around the outside of the house for the next two hours, occasionally making calls or gathering supplies from the vehicles. Lupe came out several times to feed his nicotine addiction and chatted with either of the officers. Judy was skeptical when Lupe seemed to take an interest in her and Nick did his best just to be friendly to the old wolf. He was still embarrassed that he had to leave the scene and yet he was elated when he was told to call in the clean up crew because he knew that as soon as they arrived, he and Judy could leave.

The officers did one last security sweep after the ambulance took the bodies and the clean up crew arrived.  
After crawling up into the large vehicle, Nick looked down at the clock and noticed that he and Judy had worked an extra hour over their shift. Judy started the car and after a brief pause she reached for the radio.

"Hey, Clawhouser, this is Hopps and Wilde, we are past time and going straight to a 10-7. I'll bring back the vehicle in the morning. Do you read?"

"10-4 Hopps, have a good night," crackled the response.

"We can go straight home with the cruiser?" Nick asked.

"Not always, and we aren't going home," she replied with a sly grin. "Take off your shirt."

Nick's ears shot straight up as he watched the bunny pull off her tactical vest. When she glanced back she let out a laugh as his already red cheeks and ears glowed even redder.

"Relax Slick, I'm not propositioning you! I'm just taking you out for a beer. Officers can't drink in uniform, and you're not in uniform if it is just the slacks and undershirt. Consider it a debrief."

Nick chuckled to himself as he loosened his tie and the two mammals drove off for drinks.

* * *

 **Author's note: Before you head off, please check out the cover image. You can see a larger version on my DeviantArt page.**


	4. Off Duty

In Zootopia, it doesn't matter what day of week it is or time of day, if you are a bar owner and there is no one in your bar, you have a serious problem. That being said, Judy had her concerns as she and her partner doubled the patronage of the sketchy little bar close to her apartment when they walked in. She sat down at the bar, feeling naked wearing only her two toned nylon body suit. The pull of the stretchy material without the familiar weight of the kevlar tactical vest and heavy duty belt made her feel more vulnerable than if she were out wearing her normal civilian clothes. Nick, on the other hand didn't seem much more comfortable as he pulled yet again at his white v-neck undershirt to keep his thicker tufts of chest fur tucked in. They sat themselves at the bar and ordered their first round of drinks, a light beer for Judy and something more full bodied for Nick. Nick savored the bitter drink as he tried to ease the stress of the day away. A sigh from beside him revealed that his partner was trying to do the same. They sat in silence for some time, nursing their drinks, and Nick became aware of how heavy his eyelids had become and he let out a sleepy sigh. His eyes slid closed but snapped back open when he saw the mangled meerkat on the back of his lids.

"Sorry if I'm being boring," Judy said after draining her first bottle and ordering a second for the both of them, "I'm trying to think of something to say, but I'm not sure what. I keep thinking to when I saw my first body, I really didn't want to go home afterwards. I just wanted someone to talk to, someone to be near, but, without you, I didn't have anyone at that time."

"Why didn't you call me? I'm guessing this was while I was at the academy, right?" He asked.

Judy shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I was having trouble processing what happened and I think I didn't want to scare you. Plus, I wasn't sure if you could relate to how I was feeling."

"I probably could now," he replied sadly. "Do you want to tell me about it now?"

She shrugged her shoulders again before she took a long drink, "It was a fatal gunshot wound from a mugging gone wrong. The vic took the shot at almost point blank range through the eye." Nick shuttered but Judy continued to describe the scene. "And the thing I found most disturbing, wasn't the fact that his brains were splattered on the wall behind him, or that his head was hollowed out like a coconut, but his face. His face was perfectly intact. He must have watched that damn bullet come into his head, because both eyes were wide open, one glazed over, and the other just a bloody socket. Even his eyelids were fine. I watched the coroner do that thing where they close a dead person's eyes. He looked like he was sleeping. He didn't even have blood on his face, it was all behind him."

"Jeeze, Fluff. What did you do?" He asked horrified.

"Well, I was all by myself so I tried to focus on my training."

"Like you told me to do."

She nodded, "I swept the area, to make sure it was safe, which, luckily for me, it was, because my paws were shaking so badly I don't think I could have even fired my gun if I wanted to. After that I made the call to dispatch and while I was waiting for homicide, I went behind the building and threw up everywhere. Tanuki was not happy, let me tell you what. Apparently it was still within the range of the active crime scene. He yelled and threatened to report me for tampering with evidence and disturbing an active crime scene. I couldn't take it, I cried and begged for him not to do it. Luckily he didn't report me but he kicked me off the case and called in a new set of officers to replace me. He didn't even want my report when I handed it in the next day."

Nick was aghast at the story. "That's bullshit! Why did they even send you into a murder scene alone to begin with, especially as a rookie, and, no offence, being a smaller mammal."

She sighed and rubbed her neck, trying to ease the painful memory before she spoke, "I think I should have started out with a partner, but Bogo had it in for me when I first started, as you know. Then, after the night howler case, I guess everyone thought I could handle whatever came my way. I thought I could handle whatever came my way. Then that happened right after you left for the academy and I didn't quite know what to do. I couldn't sleep because every time I closed my eyes I saw that leopard with the hollowed out eye socket. He would talk to me in my dreams in the most casual way, like everything was fine."

Nick watched her eyes fill with tears as she spoke but she squeezed them tight and chugged down the rest of her drink before they could fall. She waved to the bartender for another as she covered up a burp. Nick could relate to her story. Even when he was outside he had been haunted by the images of the blood soaked couple, no matter how hard he tried to put it out of his mind. It was depressing to think that even when he got home, the specters of the dead mammals would be there waiting for him.

"How did you get over it?" he asked, afraid of what the answer could be, but she just shrugged.

"I just took some time and I decided after that, that I definitely needed a partner. I went to Bogo and insisted that on you becoming my partner after you graduated. I pulled out every reason why we should be partners I could think of and even made up a few reasons. I told him two small mammals working together would have certain advantages. I said you might still be rebellious, and would need a familiar partner. I said that it was really you who did all the work on the night howler case. I talked you up and down so many times I think I finally annoyed the Chief into agreeing." she looked up at her partner with big wet eyes and she smiled. "I wanted to make sure I was here for you when this day came, but I really didn't think it was going to come so soon."

"Wow, Carrots. That's really sweet of you, in a kind of a pathetic way," he responded as he reached for her paw.

She squeezed his paw back and took a big breath before giving him a big smile. "Ok, enough about my story. Now it's your turn. Hopefully you've got enough alcohol in you to loosen that muzzle of yours. I want to hear all about that vixen from earlier."

"Oh, I see how it is. You take me out and pretend to be my friend only to get me drunk and take advantage of me" he said with a smirk.

"That's right!" she said with a big grin.

"Unfortunately, I'm not nearly drunk enough for this, you're going to have to buy me a couple of shots first," She smiled as she gave the order for four shots of his choice.

"My choice? Oh you dear sweet bunny. Don't you know you shouldn't trust a fox?" He said as he ordered the strongest drink he could think of. He would need the extra buzz if he was going to open up about about Vicky.

"I think I can take my chances, they wouldn't make just any fox into a cop," she replied as she held the small glass full of yellow liquid. It smelled like lighter fluid. Nick eyed her carefully as he picked up his own shot glass. He expected a big reaction when the innocent bunny tasted the alcohol but was impressed when she threw the drink down her throat in one gulp. Her nose wrinkled for just a moment before she released a satisfied "Ahh!"

"Well, I'll be. Look at you Officer Toot Toot, drinking like a big girl," Nick laughed as he tossed back his own drink.

She smirked at the fox, "Well, there's not a lot of cash to throw around when you have hundreds of siblings, and there's not much to do in the middle of nowhere on a farm. We learned quickly to tolerate the cheapest, most effective drink we could get our paws on. We even had a number of sills making moonshine stashed across the property."

"This is not the naive, make-the-world-a-better-place Officer Judith Hopps I know. Who are you?" Nick asked, his voice was shocked but a smile stretched across his face from ear to ear.

She giggled at the attention as she reached for the other glass. "I'm not always such a goodie-goodie, I have a wild side too," she snickered before she threw the other shot back, "Ahh! Although, I guess every side of you is wild. Huh?"

"That joke was terrible and you're getting drunk," he huffed as he rolled his eyes. Normally when mammals made a joke at the expense of his name it was annoying, but he found this particular joke a bit more endearing. Maybe it was jokester who said it, or maybe it was how her little nose twitched as the alcohol's effects started kicking in.

"Hey, I've got the size disadvantage and I've been setting the pace! You need two more shots to catch up. Bartender! Two more please!" She scolded the fox before calling to the other side of the bar. She swung back quickly to her partner, "Also, don't think just because I'm lightening up, doesn't mean I will forget about that vixen. I want to know everything." She demanded, slamming her paw onto the bar which resulted in only a soft thud. "Finish those drinks quickly and either start talking or we get out of here and start making some bad decisions," she said with a mischievous smile.

He took immediate notice of the opportunity to get out of talking about his ex and, by God, he was going to take it. Nick wondered what counted as a "bad decision" in the little bunny's book. She was always so steadfast and straightforward, but tipsy Judy was an entirely new animal as she swung her legs under the bar stool like an excited child. He tipped back the shot as his imagination took off. He leaned in towards the bunny and with a sly smirk he replied, "Let's go make some bad decisions."

She crinkled her nose in a playful smirk before she fished out some cash for the bartender. She slapped it on the bar, downed the rest of the alcohol and grabbed Nick's wrist as she hopped off her stool and out the door. She dragged him quickly down the street, bouncing and running at different points and he marveled how she could move so quickly with a belly full of booze. They ran no more than three blocks before they were scurrying over the chain link fence of an abandoned factory along the bank of one of the many river branches that wound through the city before they finally stopped. Nick glanced at the grimy, graffiti covered concrete building and yard, the broken windows, with their glass scattered like snow, and bits of rusted broken metal machines that stretched up into the air and hung perilously over the water's edge as his breath slowed from their flighty arrival. His pants turned to coughs as he saw his partner pulling her bodysuit off her shoulders and down her hips revealing a plain black sports top and simple black panties.

"Woah! What are you doing there, Carrots?" he exclaimed and he could feel his ears get warm as the half naked bunny stood before him. Even in the late twilight hours, his keen nocturnal eyes couldn't miss the way the dark undergarments contrasted against her silver and white fur. Despite her form fitting uniform, Nick found he was surprised by the exact curves and lines of her body.

"Relax, Slick." She scoffed as she turned towards a tall rusty crane that sprung up and over the water. "Take your pants off and come swimming with me." she began climbing the crisscrossing metal and Nick's heart began to race as he watched her exposed legs stretch from rusty bar to rusty bar.

"This is a really bad decision," he commented as he glanced into the murky, dark water. Rainbows shimmered as the evening light caught thin slicks of oil.

"What's the matter? I know you can swim. Come on."

"Sure I can swim, in a nice clean pool," his voice faltered as she neared at the top of the crane. She stood shakily and took one wobbly step after wobbly step ten feet above the ground and rising, towards the river. "Come down from there, Fluff. What are you doing up there?"

"I'm going to do an awesome cannonball, obviously," She replied with sass as she gave an extra wobble, trying to regain her balance.

"You can't jump from up there! You have no idea how deep the water is. You're going to kill yourself. Get down here!" Nick called not bothering to hide the panic in his voice as the bunny made her way further down the crane. The metal gave a low creak as her meager weight placed pressure on the rusted metal.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing," she called back from the edge of the pipe. It gave another groan, much louder this time.  
Fearing the metal would break and fall into the river with his partner, Nick dashed to the machine and held it, hoping to keep it in place. Talking to the crazed rabbit wasn't helping to get her down and his mind searched frantically for another solution. Finally he could only come up with one answer and he yelled desperately to the bunny.  
"She was abusive, Ok? You-you wanted to know about Vicky? Fine, she was terrible!"

Judy froze inches from her jumping point before she turned towards her partner. In the dim light she couldn't see the tears well in his eyes but she could hear the panicked desperation in his voice.

"She was awful to me and-and I was just as bad back to her. She-she had a way of pushing my buttons, of getting under my skin. She would make me so mad, and I know it's no excuse, but, I would get so upset that I lashed out at her. I hit her and abused her and I felt like such an asshole but I swear she seemed to enjoy it. She only pushed me further and I was afraid of who I was becoming because part of me enjoyed it too. Now, will you please come down from there?" Nick desperately begged the shocked bunny as a tears soaked his fur. Judy blinked a few times, trying to process this new information before she knelt down and worked her way slowly to the ground. Safely, she stood before him, her eyes cast down and to the side, still trying to understand the weight of his words. He reached his hands towards her but stopped, fearing what was going through her mind.

"I didn't want to tell you," he began with a shuddered breath, "because I'm ashamed and I know how cops, especially, feel about males who hit their mates, but that's not who I am. I don't ever want to be that kind of tod again. I swear." Nick's chest ached as he released his darkest confession and more tears spilled through his soaked cheek fur.

Judy looked up at her partner, the effects of the alcohol were swept from her mind as she looked at his pained face. Her head swirled with confusion and her heart ached for her partner. His shoulders were slumped and defeated and his eyes bore into hers, desperately searching for forgiveness in her face.

He gasped when, fast as lightning, he suddenly felt the crashing embrace of his partner. She wrapped her arms around his ribs and squeezed, pressing herself tightly to his body.

"I'm sorry," her voice was barely above a whisper as she buried her face into his chest, "I should have never pressed you so hard. I should have respected your privacy. I can be such a bad friend sometimes." Nick looked down at the top of her head, her ears drooped back and he could feel her own breathing grow as heavy as his. He wanted to hug her back, but his balled up paws shook from the swirl of emotions.

"Just tell me you don't hate me now. Tell me you don't think I'm utter garbage," he pleaded.

She let out a soft chuckle, "Of course I don't hate you. I don't think I ever could do that. I know you had a spotty past and I shouldn't have pried into it. Forgive me?" She looked up into his glassy eyes with her own filled with tears. He smiled and finally brushed back her ears with his paws and returned her embrace.

"Yeah, I forgive you. Now put your pants back on. Drunk bunny."


	5. Grunt Work

The next day, when Nick came into work he was still exhausted from the previous day and he was hoping today would be like the previous morning. No murders. No ex-girlfriends. No heart wrenching confessions. Just cruising around with his favorite bunny.

He was nursing his fourth cup of coffee as he walked into the bullpen, where Judy sat studying the contents of a manila folder.

"Hey, Carrots, what ya got there?" He asked casually. Her ears flicked towards him but her eyes took a moment longer to meet his as she finished reading.

"Oh, hey Slick. Sorry again about last night, I guess I've lost some of my tolerance. Thanks for not letting me do something stupid, or well, more stupid," she greeted her partner. She was going to continue to explain the folder when she was interrupted by a loud cry to attention resulting a series of hoots and stomps as the Chief entered the room. Judy closed the folder and pounded her small paws on the table. She tried to make her voice sound deep like the other officers as she whooped along but there was no way she could compete with the deep grunts and howls of the other large officers. Nick watched his partner and couldn't help but snicker at her. Luckily, she took no notice of his laugh because if she knew how adorable he thought she looked right now, she would probably punch him right in the nose.

"Alright, that's enough," Bogo yelled lazily and the room quickly quieted down. "It was an easy day for most of you yesterday. I hope that's because animals are behaving themselves rather than any of my officers sitting on their lazy backsides," there was a definite tone of warning coming from the large buffalo as he glared across the bullpen. "Assignments: Fangmeyer, Delgato, Wolford, and Snow, there's a peace rally this afternoon outside city hall. Make sure it stays peaceful. Grizzoli and Black: undercover, you know your assignment. Hopps, Wilde: homicide wants you on their floor. Everyone else: patrol. I don't care who takes what sector. Just be adults about it. Dismissed."

Aside from the officers who had been named, all the large mammals began filing quickly towards the front of the room, hoping to get good sections of the city. The rest moved towards the exit in the back of the room, so as not to get caught up in the light shoving match. The two smallest officers, however, remained in their seats as they waited for the room to clear. While some of the officers might consider the clamor a mere annoyance, to a mammal as small as Judy, or even Nick, the friendly scuffle could prove dangerous. Of the two who stayed back it was the larger of the two mammals who sat with his long jaw swung open in shock like the broken hinge of a trap door.

"Seriously, Fluff? Aren't those old farts done with us?" Nick cried in anguish.

"Oh, don't be such a baby. That's actually what I was going to tell you about that," Judy replied dismissively. Her hands ran over the smooth surface of the folder as she stood. "I kind of got stopped by Lupe in the hall this morning. It turns out he was sort of impressed yesterday and he wants to see how I handle a case for himself."

"What? Why?" Nick was shocked for a moment. He knew that it was well outside of the job description for a beat cop to assist an investigator with anything more than arrests and security. The mammals in blue were the muscle and the investigators were the brain, and despite the fact that most investigators started out their careers as cops, many of them looked down on beat cops.

Nick's confusion melted as he was struck by a wonderful realization. His face lit up as he gasped, "Carrots, I think you might be up for a promotion!"

"What? No!" Judy waved her paw, dismissing the idea before she gave it a moment of thought, "Really?"

"Yeah! Why else would homicide need a beat cop after the initial crime scene. Well, unless they are already about to make an arrest, but that's not likely. This could be big for you!" Nick said excitedly as they made their way out of the room.

"No, Nick. I haven't even been on the force for two full years yet. There are tons of cops gunning for an investigator position with way more seniority," she insisted, though her ears did blush at the thought of a promotion.

"Yes, but none of these doughnut guzzlers have the impressive resume you do. You're the first officer of your species. You solved multiple missing mammal cases in your first week alone. You were the poster girl for the ZPD, and then you figured out why predators were going savage and apprehended the criminal, all in your first six months. If that doesn't impress folks, I don't know what will and, believe me, I know how to impress people." Nick listed off all her accomplishments on his paw pads before swinging his arms around for emphasis.

"I-I never approved of those posters," she added meekly. Her cheeks turned red from all the praise as she played with one of her drooped ears. "Besides, what about you? You helped me with most of that and they're asking for you too. They can't be looking to promote you as well. I mean, no offense, but it's only your second day."

Nick shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "Of course they want me. Who wouldn't? I'm amazing." Judy shook her head at his bravado. "Lupe did ask you if you ever thought about joining homicide, didn't he? Why would he ask such a question? You'd be great at it, and don't worry your little fluffy head about me, I'm sure I'll be a regular gum shoe before the end of the year." Judy just scoffed as his fantasy grew more and more inflated.

As the two cops entered the homicide department they saw Tanuki and Lupe walking out of their office. Lupe nodded at them but it was Tanuki who spoke, "Officers Hopps and Wilde, it is good to see you again. We were just about to leave for some interviews, I have a list in our office of areas I would like you two to investigate for us. Feel free to use our computers, and give us a call if you find anything." If it weren't for his accent, Nick would have swore he was a fluff covered robot for all the vibrant emotion he displayed.

"And don't mind the mess. Hiro here is a bit of a pack-rat," Lupe added with a wink. The raccoon dog shook his head slowly as he turned to leave and the cops helped themselves to the investigators' office.

The office was relatively large, but was stuffed to capacity with bookshelves full of books and binders, cardboard boxes, some stacked neatly, others more haphazardly, large metal filing cabinets and two moderately sized desks. On the first desk, there was a medium sized computer set up as well as a neat stack of folders, a tidy little desk organizer and a single picture of two raccoon dogs standing under a cherry tree in full bloom. The other desk was a complete reversal of the first with large stacks of untidy papers strewn about the place, nearly burying a larger computer. The drawers on the desk hung open slightly, and papers were spilling out of most of them. Opposite the desks, a gigantic whiteboard took up an entire wall. Residue from past use gave hints of previous cases that were no longer being worked on. Covering the residue were various photographs and notes hung by magnets. Most of them were of the victims at various angles as they were found the previous day, covered in blood. There was one photo in the center of the white board that was not like the others. It was a sweet photo of both victims embracing each other as they smiled for the camera long before their deaths.

Judy walked to the whiteboard and stared at the middle photo. It was difficult to believe that the smiling, vibrant faces were the same mammals from the other pictures.

"Marcus Rutger and Katherine Amir," Nick read a few snippets and notes aloud. "Lacerations...blunt force trauma...splatter analysis...sexual assault? Huh, that's new."

Judy gave the fox a sad look as she turned to the neater of the two desks. She pulled a sticky note off the top folder and read it to her partner, "Please look into these areas for any possible leads."

"It doesn't happen to say what those areas are does it?"

Judy gave a small shrug as she opened the folder and pulled out a single sheet of paper. "It's just a list of websites," she exclaimed. "Facebook pages. Twitter feeds. Instagram. YouTube!"

Nick snatched the paper from Judy in disbelief and scanned the print quickly. "So we're just going to stalk their social media accounts? For how long? It's not like they are going to post anything from beyond the grave."

The little bunny let out a small chuckle. "That would make our job easier. Could you imagine, '#Ugh just got #murdered. Talk about a #badday.'"

"'Jealousfriend Why you gotta #stab me!'" Nick joked as he sat at the larger, messier desk. He logged into the computer and typed in the URL for the YouTube site. Meanwhile, Judy logged on and started looking at their Facebook profiles.

"It looks like they ran their own YouTube channel. It's a lot of stuff about inter-species marriage rights and life as an inter-species couple. This one was posted just a couple of days ago," he clicked the link and made sure the speakers were turned on for Judy to hear too.

"Hey, Kat here and there's my sexy guy Marc. We are getting ready for the peace rally for inter-species marriage rights in just two days! I've got a couple of signs made up and you won't believe what just came in the mail yesterday! Check out these awesome shirts Marc and I had made. 'Love has no species.' Ain't that the truth. Marc and I are going to be giving these away for free at the rally so come find us, say hi and grab one of these. Now, we only made one hundred of these beauties so you'll have to find us early because once they are gone, they're gone. We are also going to be taking donations for Same Class, which you all know is our favorite inter-species rights support group. Those guys are great, I mean, they've helped Marc and I so much throughout the years, we just can't support them enough. They are just a great group of mammals."

"Oh just kill me now," Nick grumbled as he opened a new tab in the browser.

"What's the matter, Slick? You're not inter-phobic are you?" Judy asked with a chuckle.

"No," he replied in a grumpy tone, "I just have a limit on how much of that overly perky, 'I can make the world a better place' attitude I can take, and that limit is called Judy Hopps. I don't 'get' inter-species couples, but who ever you bring into your bed is your own damn business and I don't have a problem with mammals who go for that."

Judy swung towards the fox with her eyebrows knitted tightly together. "What do you mean you don't 'get' inter-species relationships? What's not to get about two mammals in love?"

"Really, Fluff? Shouldn't you be concentrating on your Facebook," Nick scolded, before he shook his head in frustration, "I can't believe that just came out of my mouth."

"Yes, but-" she started before she cut herself off.

Nick glanced over and saw her droopy ears. Her lips were pursed together and her gaze was directed somewhere near her knees. He could clearly see the inner turmoil on the bunny's face as she fought back the desire to pry further.

Why did she care about his opinion on inter-species relationships? It wasn't the sort of topic one brings up in any kind of casual conversation. He let out a long sigh, not seeing the harm in the discussion.

"Fine," he relented as he rolled his bright green eyes back into his head. "I don't know how it is for other mammals or for any females, but when a vixen walks by and she's in heat, as a tod, I can smell it and it is, naturally, exciting." Nick could feel his ears get warm as he explained his biology. He glanced over to the rabbit who stayed silent, obviously waiting for more. "It's intoxicating, OK? It's an opportunity, a game if you will. Play your cards right, be charming and you're rewarded with a hot piece of tail." he admitted as he glanced at the closed office door. He would have been mortified if he had to have this conversation with anyone else, or if anyone happened to be listening. "I, personally, have never gotten that off any other female before. I don't see how you could start a relationship any other way."

"Wait, so is that how you've started all your other relationships? No wonder you have crazy ex's if that's all they go for. That's so base instinctual and certainly not how rabbits do things," she spoke in a tone that was a little too condescending for Nick's taste.

He glared at the suddenly judgmental rabbit before he shot back, "OK, fine. If you think you are so much better at finding love, how do rabbits do it then?"

"Well, first of all, rabbits don't go through heat so we know that love is more than just physical attraction and fulfilling instinctual needs," she replied and Nick was starting to get sick of her smug little attitude. "Love is about cherishing and supporting each other. When you are in love you want to spend every moment with each other, even if no sex is involved. All the annoying habits that a mammal may have turn into endearing qualities and you want to be the best you that you can be for that other person."

"Ugh, I think you and Kat would have gotten along very well. You're both perky, naive, emotional, annoying, small mammals." Nick jabbed viciously though he considered her words more carefully than he cared to admit. Wasn't he originally looking forward to spending the day cooped up in the car for hours with his partner? And, technically he would have never tried to improve himself by taking this job if it weren't for her. Her description fit him and the way he felt about her, but that didn't mean he was in love with the bunny. She was his friend, and admittedly, he admired her greatly, but their relationship was strictly platonic. Even when they got drunk at bars or snuggled up to watch TV, he never had any desire to get into her tiny pants. She was just comforting to be with.

"Hmm, maybe," she replied in a teasing tone as she turned back to her computer. With her eyes no longer on him, he gave her a quick visual once over before turning back to his computer. He thought back to the previous night when she stood before him, half naked. Sure she, might be attractive to another bunny, with her lean, fit body and her soft gray fur and sparkling violet eyes, but not to a fox. The thought was just foolishness, even if he did think back to the scene with a strange stirring sensation.

"Hey, I think I found something, although I don't know how useful it is. It looks like Amir is a fur stylist."

"What salon?" Nick asked, thankful for the distraction from his thoughts.

"The Meek? Looks like it's on Melbourne Ave. Why, have you heard of it?"

Nick scooted closer against Judy's shoulder and looked at her screen, "No, that means it's probably not a chain store. I wonder if they have security cameras?"

"That's a good idea, I'll jot that down to look into it later," Judy said as she grabbed for a pen.

"OK, so let's say I wanted to kill this girl and her beau, just by going online, I now know where she works, and chances are I could probably follow her home. Being a meerkat, she is small and therefore an easy target, as is her boyfriend, especially if I'm a larger mammal or a predator or both." Nick concluded.

"No, there has to be more than that," Judy said as she began tapping her finger on the desk. Her eyes darted around as her mind raced. "There must be some connection. Lot's of mammals post their work locations online. Why did he choose this couple?"

"Maybe he's inter-phobic?" Nick shrugged. He was usually pretty good at reading people, but not while they weren't around and he had certainly never tried to get into the mind of a killer before. This was definitely beyond his mammal skills.

"There's a lot of mammals that are inter-phobic, but that doesn't mean that they go kill random couples. Besides, look at these two! They're so sweet you'll get diabetes. Who would want to kill that?"

"Maybe a jealous lover?" Nick asked, "Maybe, someone was mad because their lover left them for a mammal from another species. I might be insulted if my girlfriend left me for a chubby raccoon or whatever."

"I'm not seeing a lot of negativity on these feeds, which isn't to say that they weren't deleted." Judy sighed. "Honestly, I think we are wasting our time. Let's just jot down what we learn about the couple, who is following them, who comments on their feeds and then see if we can go back on patrol as quick as we can."

"Yeah that sounds like a plan, and then maybe you can let me drive that monster out there?" Nick asked hopefully.

"Hmm, not on your life."


	6. Down Time and Frustrations

Unfortunately for the cops, after spending the last hour going through every little status update, every mundane tweet and what felt like a million pictures of food, the two detectives weren't finished giving the cops tedious grunt work.

"I may have to resend that theory about us getting promotions," Nick grumbled, cradling a phone to his ear as he was on hold for the um-teenth time, trying to get access to some surveillance tapes.

"I actually miss parking duty," Judy admitted as she waited for thirty pages of tweets to finish printing on a machine that must have been as old as she was.

Even when the investigators were in the room they shared nothing of what they learned from talking to the medical examiner and various witnesses with the cops, although they did agreed that looking for security cameras at the victims' places of employment was a good idea. After a few phone calls, the cops were sent out to collect the videos and spent the rest of their shift looking for anything suspicious through the hours of footage. Nick had never looked forward to happy hour as much as he did today and he was very much missing his popsicle stand.

"Hey partner, you know what sounds really good right now?" Judy asked Nick wearily as they walked toward the locker rooms.

"Crappy movies, take out and beer?" Nick replied knowing exactly what the bunny needed.

Judy hummed happily, "It's like you read my mind. I'll get the food, you get the beer and we'll head to your place. How's Indian sound?" Nick rolled his eyes at her small obsession with curry that she developed after he introduced her to it a few weeks ago. Bunny Burrow wasn't exactly known for it's wealth of diverse cultures and Nick thoroughly enjoyed introducing Judy to every new sight, sound, smell and taste the big city had to offer. He loved the way her face lit up like an excitable child with every new experience, and he loved how it made him seem cooler and more worldly than he actually was.

"That sounds amazing," he answered sleepily. Finishing the day staring at a screen might not have been the best way to ease their tension, but relaxing on the couch with good food and beer and laughing at the predictable plot lines and cheesy acting with his best friend sounded like a good way to unwind.

The feeling of stretching their legs was glorious, after being stuck inside most of the day, as they slowly made their way from stop to stop gathering their supplies and heading towards Nick's apartment. So much so, that by the time they arrived at the comfortable one bedroom apartment, both mammals were feeling relaxed and reenergized.

Judy picked out the stupidest looking DVD she could find out of Nick's collection, which had a picture of cheesy looking wolf howling in the rain without his shirt as a female wolf hung off his waist with a tattered dress. She threw the DVD in the machine before she hopped onto the couch where the fox was waiting for her with two bowls of hot curry and two bottles of cold beer.

The two mammals scoffed at the poorly choreographed fight scenes and the woody characters through mouthfuls of spicy rice and veggies. When the curry was gone Judy snuggled herself under Nick's arm and groaned at what was supposed to be a steamy sex scene.

"And yet another howl. How many times was that? It's a good thing we didn't turn this into a drinking game, eh Fluff? Carrots?" Nick pointed out to an apparently sleeping bunny. He looked down at her relaxed face as she dozed gently against him. Her ears drooped down the side of her head and her small paws were tucked under her cheek against his hip. He reached back to the ugly, scratchy blanket that his mother had crocheted, draped across the back of the couch. He pulled at it and laid it gently across Judy's small form, careful not to disturb her. She noticed the addition of the blanket, though not enough to wake her up, but enough for her to wiggle her body and snuggle further into the fox's side. Nick's heart swelled at the sight of the cute sleeping bunny which then caused him to frown.

This wasn't the first time Judy had snuggled up against him as they watched movies in his apartment. Both bunnies and foxes were very affectionate creatures that liked to snuggle, though it wasn't as widely known for foxes. It also wasn't the first time she had fallen asleep on his lap, which was a testament to their friendship as he suspected she still held a reasonably cautious fear deep down of foxes and predators in general. Rabbits did have a tendency to be nervous creatures and more than once, he had caught her flinch before an aggressive predator, even if it was only for a moment before her bravery kicked in. She never flinched at him though. He had even made it a point to yawn and stretch in her presence, showing off his teeth and claws in as casual manner as he could, but she gave him no reaction. She was truly comfortable in his presence.

This wasn't even the first time she had set his heart aflutter, although he had always blamed it on the fact that she was cute. Not in the way that girl is cute to her lover, but in the way that all rabbits were cute. The kind of cute that Judy had but hated to be reminded of.

This was the first time, however, that she had made his heart swell while he was considering the intricacies of an inter-species relationship. This was the first time he thought about her in any kind of romantic sense, or, to be more accurate, maybe last night was the first time. He still wasn't sure. He looked down at her gently twitching nose as she slept, as well as the soft curves of her face, and the relaxed lids that hid her amethyst eyes. Yes, she was definitely cute, there was no doubt about that. The question for the night, however, is she cute like a stuffed animal is cute, or like a fluffy baby was cute, or is she cute like someone he would want to kiss?

 _OK, well NOW I want to kiss her._ He thought, his mind racing with curiosity. _I c_ _ould. She wouldn't have to know if it was just one small peck on the head._ _Maybe I should, just to try it._

 _What? No, you can't do that. She's your partner and friend! What if she wakes up and things get awkward?_

 _She won't wake up. Not if I'm careful. What is the harm in one little kiss?_

 _It's not just one little kiss though. It's a breach of friendship. Not to mention, what kind of sicko goes around kissing sleeping girls._

 _Fairy tale princes do. They are always stumbling across sleeping chicks in the forest and then kissing them._

 _This isn't a fairy tale dumb ass. If you kiss her, she's going to wake up and she's going to be pissed._

 _Not if it's a really good kiss. Plus, I can always play it off in a cool way. Besides, the more I think about it, the more I want to do it. I think I really do want to kiss Judy Hopps, bunny or not. In fact, I think I would like to do even more than kiss her._

 _You can't do more than kiss her while she's asleep! God, what is wrong with you?_

 _Not while she's asleep! I'd take things slowly. Talk to her, be my usual charming self, and maybe we could start something romantic. I wonder what it would be like to be with a bunny? To be with Carrots?_

 _More importantly, would she even want to be with you? You're so much bigger than her. There's no way you two could ever do anything sexual. You'd break the poor girl. Not to mention the age gap. Who would want to go out with someone almost a decade their senior. There's no way she would find you attractive. Plus she's such a good girl, she doesn't need someone with a sketchy past hanging all over her. Don't forget how you almost got her killed that first day with Mr. Big. You've got a whole book full of people who would do anything to watch you crash and burn. Do you really want to drag her into that crap._

 _She's tough. She handled Mr. Big well and I can't think of anyone else who would actually try to kill me. Yes, I have a sketchy past, but would any of that stuff even matter to her?_

 _Of course it would matter! It should matter. She has a fantastic career ahead of her, and a long life to look forward to. She's your partner and getting intimate would only hurt both your careers. She doesn't need you and your baggage dragging her down. She deserves better than you._

 _But I don't do that stuff anymore. I don't swindle or cheat anymore. I'm trying to help animals. Doesn't that count for something?_

 _Who have you helped? You've only been on the force for two days and it has already been hell. Becoming a cop was a mistake. You can't change who you are. You will always be a sneaky, conniving, scruffy fox. It's better that you just put her out of your mind and move on. Why endanger a great friendship? There are better ways to get laid._

Nick looked down sadly at the small bunny and stroked her soft shoulder gently. He thought about how they had first met and how far their friendship had come. She was such a sweet and trusting bunny but she was still very naive.

 _She is better than you, better than a fox. If you really care about her, you would be protecting her from males like yourself._

He gently lifted her off himself and set her back down on the couch. He tucked the blanket around her after he stood up. She looked so peaceful sleeping on his couch. So beautiful. Nick leaned over and gently pressed his nose to the top of her head and took in a small whiff. It wasn't the intoxicating scent of a vixen, but it was pleasant and earthy. His chest tightened and his stomach twisted as he processed the scent.

 _If you really care, help her rise. Don't drag her down. Put your damn libido away and go._

He turned off the TV and the lights and gave the sleeping bunny one last glance before he turned in for the night in his own bedroom.

* * *

"Oh, Carrots," Nick let out a low, lustful moan as he opened his eyes slowly. It was dark and he was alone in his bedroom. His mouth was dry and he felt warm all over. An ache was nagging at him from the inside of his boxers as he glanced at his alarm clock. He growled grumpily at the early hour, agitated that he had woken himself up so early because of a silly dream.

A drink of water and a trip to the bathroom would quickly cure his ails but he stopped in his tracks as he opened his door. His keen, nocturnal eyes quickly spied the bunny sleeping soundly on the couch. He pulled his undershirt down to his crotch and he realized that if she woke up while he was moving about his apartment, he would have to deal with a terribly awkward conversation.

He closed the door and grumbled about being too damn old for wet dreams as he returned to his bed. He crawled on top of his covers and reached his hands down his boxers. His ache told him that he wouldn't need much attention, but after a few minutes of rubbing, his stubborn erection refused to release its pressure. A low growl escaped his throat as his climax eluded him.

Nick threw his head back onto his pillow as he tried to remember the dream that had triggered his state. Judy's face instantly popped in his mind, but not in any kind of way that he had actually seen her before. She was biting her lips and covering her nude body with her arms as she glanced lustfully his way. In his fantasy, she crawled to him on her paws and knees until she was straddled over his reclined body. He imagined the heat of her body and the softness of her lips on his as he felt his climax draw closer. Her imaginary form reared back with her arms stretched up over her head, revealing every inch of her naked body to him. He was familiar with the curves of her arms, shoulders, and even her abdomen and thighs, but his mind had to fill in the blanks that comprised of the curves of her chest and her hips and what lie between. He summoned his own imaginary hand to grasp at her thigh and massage it. She let out a small gasp as he reached between her legs and gently caressed her slick folds with one finger.

This was enough for the fox as his seed shot forth and landed on his shirt. He panted a little as his invisible lover vanished from his mind leaving him alone to stare in the darkness.

 _I thought we were going to put her out of our mind._

 _I didn't mean to._ He argued with himself. He knew he shouldn't, but as he laid in bed he tried desperately to remember the rest of his dream but it was slowly becoming further and further out of reach.

 _Put her out of your mind. You can't have her._

Nick sighed as he removed the soiled shirt and left to get his drink of water. As he filled his glass from the sink he heard his guest stir and she let out a sleepy moan.

"Go back to sleep. It's just me, Carrots," he crooned to her.

"Hmm, why are you walking around in the dark?" she asked sleepily.

"Nocturnal eyes, I don't need a lot of light. Plus, I didn't want to wake you up. So much for that." he finished his water and set the glass in the sink.

He could see the bunny clearly through the dark as she shifted her weight to face him from the couch, her ears lazily trained in his direction.

"Come snuggle me for a second?" The question was asked innocently. He knew the snuggles reminded her of her close knit family back in Bunny Burrow where the lack of space forced her siblings to snuggle together at bedtime, but Nick was feeling quite the opposite of innocent after his dream.

 _Put her out of your mind!_

"Sorry Fluff. I'm really tired and should get back to bed. You should go back to sleep too. Night." He heard her moan in protest as he returned to his room but she offered no further resistance and fell back asleep.

 _It's for the best. You'll see._

 _I hope your right._

* * *

 **Author's note: I decided to combine chapter's 6 and 7 into one chapter...I hope no one minds.**


	7. The Midnight Zone

The next day at work Nick visibly melted in relief when he and Judy were assigned to patrol duty. She still wouldn't let him drive what he was now affectionately calling "The Monster" but patrolling through the city, and responding to random calls allowed them to get out and interact with other animals. Both mammals were more comfortable on the streets than in the office where Nick could use his fine tuned people skills to defuse angry animals and Judy could stretch her legs and feel the sun warm her silver fur. She laughed as her partner was even able to convince a few mammals that he was doing them favors by handing out tickets, instead of arresting them, even though the offenses were no where near bad enough to warrant an arrest. The partners joked with the locals, savored the warm summer weather and even kicked a ball around with a group of kids for a few minutes. It was days like this when a mammal couldn't help but feel like everything was going to be alright in the world.

"Hopps, Wilde. Lupe and Tanuki are requesting a code 2 in the nocturnal sector. Please respond."

"Nooo," Nick practically howled as Benjamin's voice crackled over the radio but Judy just shot him a warning glare before she gave the 10-4 and turned The Monster towards the hollowed out hill on the far off edge of city. The nocturnal sector, more commonly referred to as the midnight zone, existed almost completely underground. Judy, who had never been to this area, was expecting to see sights typical of an underground cavern, such as stalactites and stalagmites, but she was pleasantly surprised to see that it looked very much like a normal city. Brown bricked homes lined the neatly paved streets as well as tall sleek apartment buildings. Street lights and windows cast a soft glow that made the cave look like the city center, only at night. Vents were dug into the tall ceiling of the cave which gave the illusion of stars on a clear night and she could even see where constellations were purposefully replicated and even twinkled as fans turned in the openings. As they drove further into the sector they saw many of the businesses advertised 24/7 services, including convenience stores, posh restaurants, hip clubs, and even libraries. Many such buildings were decorated with phosphorescent paint giving the distinct impression that rather than driving through a neighborhood, Judy was gliding between dreams and reality and sometimes, even into nightmares. Much like the other sections of Zootopia, Judy felt like she had suddenly been transported to another world entirely, only the Midnight zone was like many different worlds morphing into one. Even the animals were different down here. She saw more racoons, opossums, hyenas and even stranger creatures which she didn't identify until later as aye-ayes, galagos and flying squirrels, as well as some familiar animals such as deer, foxes and a wide variety of different cats.

When they pulled into the address given to them, Judy could see the two homicide investigators standing outside a short brick building with a swirling, glowing mural of tall grass and flowers painted along the facade. It wasn't quite as small as some of the buildings in little rodentia, but it was obvious why they were called as Investigator Lupe flicked his ears near a second story window.

"And this right here is why I supported the mammal inclusion initiative," Tanuki was speaking to his partner and Judy could sense some tension in the voice of the otherwise cool mammal.

"I never opposed it! I'd love to see more small canines and felines and even rodents on the force. I don't know why you're directing your anger at me though." The big wolf huffed before he greeted the new cops, "Hopps, Wilde, we are glad you're here. It seems that our friend had another episode but I can't fit through the damn door to do my job and I guess the mess is too big for Tanuki to clean up by himself. I need small hands in there working the cameras and doing whatever else he needs. Do you think you can handle another go Wilde?"

Nick snapped his ears up, giving the old wolf a determined glare. He nodded and confirmed, "You can count on me, Sir."

"Good, Hopps, I know I can count on you. Get in there and follow Tanuki's lead."

Judy nodded and all three animals went into the building. Tanuki struggled to get his wide frame inside and Nick had to bend down to get through the door. Even Judy's upright ears grazed the low frame. Once inside Nick had to be careful so as not to bang his head on the low ceiling. Judy only needed to remember not to jump. After squeezing through the hall and up a narrow stairwell, they came to the apartment which was thankfully more spacious.

If Nick had found his first murder scene vile, this one was worse. The victims were,once again, a single male and female of different species. Once again, the male, a small black rat whose fur had been bleached into what was probably supposed to be an intricate pattern, was bound and received a simple death by his slit throat but the female, however, was perhaps more gruesome than the first. She was a small bat and the delicate bones of her arms and fingers had been snapped several times like piles of dried, broken twigs. Her left arm had been completely ripped from her body, though it still clung to the rest of her from a thin strip of wing membrane that attached to her hip. Her ears had tiny gashes throughout them, which they later discovered was caused by her plethora of piercings being ripped out and flung across the room. Her face had been beaten to the point where it was no longer recognizable as a face and none of the investigators could even tell what kind of bat she was without the aid of the sweet photos of her and the rat littered throughout the room. Her small body also received the same stab wounds as the meerkat had, but on her smaller size they were less like stabbings and more like impalings.

Judy looked to her partner after taking in the horrendous scene. He looked a little green, but flashed her a toothy grin to let her know that he was ok. She moved further into the scene, taking things in at every angle. The evidence left behind told a clear story. From the angle of the bodies, the splatter of blood against the walls and wounds inflicted, she could almost replay the murders in her mind's eye. She watched as the killer snapped the bat woman's wings between his fingers. She could almost hear her screams as he threw her to the ground and began to beat her. She looked to the dead rat and the matted streaks of fur that ran from his eyes. He must have been forced to watch the entire time. So much in the room told her what had happened, but none of that mattered compared to the bigger question. Who had done this to the small couple and why?

"Where's my brother!?" Judy was shocked out of her thoughts as all three animals turned towards the sound of paws running towards the open door frame. A female rat appeared moments later and let out a panicked shriek. Nick swiftly swooped in front of the door to intercept her before she could enter the apartment.

"Whoa, you don't want to come in here. This is an active crime scene," Nick tried to act as soothing as he could.

"This is my brother's place! His name is Luke. He lives with his girlfriend Rebecca. Is he OK? Is that his blood? Please just tell me what happened!" The small mammal was screaming at Nick as he tried to lead her down the hall and many times he was forced to use his larger size to block the hallway as the slippery rat kept trying to sneak past him towards the apartment, tears streaming down her face.

"Don't start crying now, you'll contaminate the crime scene," Tanuki scolded Judy, "And this time I will report you for it." She hadn't even noticed the tears welling up in her eyes, though she could feel her heart breaking for the small sibling. Rats bread much like bunnies and most mammals would think that there was no way that you could form such a tight bond with your siblings when they numbered in the hundreds, but your litter mates were always some of the most special mammals in the world.

She quickly wiped her eyes before she turned to the investigator's kit and pulled out the camera. She worked like a robot, trying to turn off her feelings, to see the victims merely as cadavers, and not as two animals who had families, friends, and lives but it was difficult as she could still hear the occasional enraged scream or sob coming from the rat's sister as she spoke with her partner.

"Tanuki, I think I found a paw print!" Judy cried as she bent closer to the bloody smudge on the ground.

"Let me see. Hmmm, it's wide, maybe 6 inches long. No paw pads. Does that look like a fifth toe or just a smudge? Claw marks are small. I don't think we are looking for a predator after all. We'll run the print through our database, see if we can narrow down a species," Tanuki mused aloud.

"This seems a little violent for a prey attack doesn't it?" Judy asked.

"The theory that we are dealing with a predator went out the window when we were informed of a second attack. The level of violence can help us if we were dealing with a single attack, as predators are more prone towards crimes of passion, but now that we are dealing with a multi victim murderer special tendencies go out the window and we need to explore more psychological avenues. We are now working with a deranged individual who will behave outside the norm," Tanuki explained. "Look at the bat here for example, does her condition reflect the actions of someone who kills with reason, or someone who kills, strictly to cause pain and death?" Tanuki questioned.

"Well, can't you also take into account her smaller size? She's a lot more delicate than the last victim. Easier prey, especially in a confined space like an apartment. Couldn't the killer be making a statement?"

"Oh, there's a statement here all right. Our killer is enacting a fantasy, probably a revenge fantasy. He is angry with the female, that's why she takes all the abuse, and after the first murder he has developed a ritual. Notice the blood splatters near the stabbings are nearly nonexistent. She was dead long before he stabbed her," he explained as stood and bumped his head on the ceiling. He had been taking pictures the entire time they two had been talking and was being quite liberal with the quantity and angles.

"So, if she died from the beating, why bother to stab her at all?"

Tanuki walked to the kitchen and sat where the floor was cleaner so he could stretch his back before he spoke. He grunted as he stretched away the soreness that was developing from the low ceiling. "Well, as I said, serial killers tend to create a ritual. They do things in a certain order, and certain steps must be completed in order to satisfy their desires. In this case it didn't even matter when she died because the more damage he causes to the female, the more pain it will bring to her lover, even if that means desecrating her lifeless body. After the autopsy of the previous victims, we found that the Amir had been sexualy asulted prior to her death. No DNA was found, but after we do the autopsy here, I'm hoping we can get a size, and hopefully narrow down the species."

"You think the bat was raped too? Oh sweet cheese and crackers, this just keeps getting worse and worse," Judy moaned as she ran her paws over her face.

"And it will continue to get worse. Serial killers don't stop on their own, they must be stopped," Tanuki explained as he reentered the crime scene.

Judy gulped down hard as she ran her paws down her ears.

"The good news, it that, with more victims, we can start narrowing down our subject, Serial killers also tend to collect trophies. It is possible that our killer has not only photos of the deceased, but," Tanuki paused as he peeled back the lips of the dead rat, revealing a row of blood stained teeth, minus one incisor, "a single tooth from each victim. This was something else we noticed during our autopsies. Both Amir and Rutger were missing the same tooth, leaving an unhealed wound. Now we can start profiling our culprit."

"Profiling?" Judy was familiar with the term, but she never really understood the concept. The technique seemed about as flimsy as newspaper horoscopes to her.

"The murderer expends his rage on the females in order to torture the males. This tells us that the killer is male and has had some difficulty with women in the past. It could be from an abusive mother or, just as likely, it is caused by series of failed and mortifying romantic encounters. He beats the females as part of his fantasy regarding all the times he has been rejected in the past. The male, most likely, represents himself or a rival, unable to do anything but watch. I feel like our killer would have let the males go, but after witnessing his crime, they became a liability that could turn him in so he merely sees them as something he needs to dispose of. By taking the teeth of the victims, he is filling some other desire, I believe he is of a species who takes pride in their dental characteristics. We also know he is of a small to medium size because he was able come in here and work."

"Us bunnies are generally proud of our teeth. Good ears, soft fur and white teeth. That's what makes an attractive bunny," Judy added. "Could our killer be a rabbit?"

"Unlikely, a rabbit would be able to enter this home as well as over take a prairie dog but the meerkat has sharper teeth and is more agile and would put up more of a fight, unless the rabbit were experienced, or at least trained, in fighting, such as yourself," Tanuki scratched his neck, his paw completely lost in the fluff of his fur. "Or it could be a hare or any other assortment of large rodent, however I don't believe those prints match a hare or rabbit."

"Hey, Tanuki, look sharp. We've got visitors," came a call from the gruff wolf outside the window. Tanuki moved towards the window and could see a white van with the letters 'ZNN' painted across the side. Out of the van stepped out a smart dressed pig followed by a horse with a news camera.

"Ugh, reporters. We'll let Kurt take care of it," Tanuki said with a growl.

"Kurt?" Judy suddenly realized she had no idea what either of the two investigator's first names were. It was then that Nick finally returned looking exhausted from dealing with the distraught rat.

"Well I found out a bit about our victims. Luke Pestis here is a DJ at a local club and Rebecca Rousette designs fashion for mammals with unique body shapes, mostly fellow bats. Apparently, when Luke first met Rebecca he said she looked like an angel flying through the sky." Nick filled them in wearily.

"Aww," Judy swooned.

"I guess they were working at the rally that was about a week ago. It turns out they knew our previous victims through their online support groups. Rebecca had made those T-shirts Kat was going on and on about in her video. So I think we have another connection." Nick suggested.

"Connection, after connection, but we have no idea who the killer is, only that he is going to strike again and is targeting interspecies couples," Tanuki growled as his eyes shifted back and forth in thought. "Let's get things cleaned up in here and then I've got some tasks I want you two to help me with. I want to get back to the precinct as soon as possible so I can tell Bogo that I need you two on my team until we catch this guy."

"That doesn't mean more research and watching security tapes, does it?" Nick asked with a slight panicked edge to his voice.

"That's right, only now that the press has caught wind of these murders, I'm sure they will do everything they can to sensationalize the story and get the entire public upset. That means that city hall may get involved and it will be even more pressure on us. Let's hope those damn reporters don't know much and don't get too creative with what they do know," Tanuki grumbled.

Judy rubbed her groaning partner's back and smirked to herself. Despite the gore, the horror and the sadness that surrounded her, she could feel a desire rising inside her. She was going to catch this lowlife and make sure these poor mammals had their justice. This was the reason why she became a cop. She was going to make the world a better place, even if that meant surrounding herself with the worst Zootopia had to offer.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Can you guess the species of our murderer? Bonus point if you can also remember Tanuki's first name without looking back in the previous chapters!

Also, please check me out on DeviantArt so you can see the cover image in more clarity! It came out super cute!


	8. Make a Decision

"In other news, dreams turn to nightmares in the midnight zone as two mammals are brutally murdered in their own homes. Our own correspondent, Diane White, has all the details. Diane, what can you tell us about what transpired yesterday?"

"Hi Sherry, let me tell you, it was absolutely terrible what happened. Around noon yesterday, midnight zone residents Luke Pestis and Rebecca Rousette were sleeping peacefully in their home when they were roused by a visitor. Who the visitor was is yet unknown, but what we do know it that once inside, this visitor, proceeded to savagely attack and kill the two residents."

"What do we know about this terrible murderer? Were any of the neighbors alerted to the victim's distress?"

"Unfortunately, strange calls and screams are common in the midnight zone, so when local residents were questioned, they said they did hear a scream, but only once, which was nothing out of the ordinary. As to what we know about the killer, now the story gets interesting. It turns out, about a week ago there was another set of murders outside the city center and that shared a great deal of similarities to this one."

"Are you suggesting that these murders are connected? Could we be looking at a serial killer?"

"It is too early to say for certain, but yes, it would appear that we are seeing the beginning acts of a serial killer. For now we are calling him the 'Lovebird Killer.'"

"So what can the mammals of Zootopia do to protect themselves against this 'Lovebird Killer?'"

"Well, unfortunately we still don't know how he's getting to his victims, only that he is targeting couples of interspecies relationships."

"So, if you are single or in a more traditional relationship you are fine?"

"It would appear that way, at least so far."

"Alright, thank you for that info, Diane. Later we have an interview with the sibling of the latest victim. So stay tuned for more."

The TV droned on and on to itself, as the owner of the TV dozed fitfully on the couch.

"Hmmm," the fox let out a small, almost inaudible, moan. "Oh, Fluff" Nick's eyes fluttered open as he awoke, like he had done many times that week, alone and aching for release.

"God damn it," he grumbled as he rolled off the couch and into the bathroom to relieve himself. "Can't get one fucking night of fucking sleep."

 _I told you to get her out of you mind._

 _Yeah, well, easier thought than done._

 _You're doing a shitty job on your own. Maybe you need a hand?_

 _I thought I were trying to get her out of my mind?_

 _Not her. Somebody else. Anybody else. There are bars you could go to, calls you could make._

 _No._

 _Be more open minded. You're just a male, you have needs. It doesn't have to mean anything._

 _I'm not going to lead on some stranger just because I'm too dumb to ask out the one female I'm interested in._

 _It's not dumb. Haven't you heard? There's a killer out there targeting interspecies couples. You're protecting her. From the killer and your own dumb ass._

 _Excuses._

 _Nonsense. You just need to find a nice muff to plow and go to town. It doesn't have to be someone new. It can be someone who already knows how to turn you on._

 _NO!_

 _She was right. You didn't delete her number. Call her. Who cares what she thinks? She used and abused you, it's just time to return the favor. She owes you._

 _Be quite! I just need sleep._

 _You know you want to._

"I said, SHUT UP!" Nick froze as he realized he had just shouted out loud at his own inner demon and he suddenly felt very foolish. He turned the TV off and crawled into his bed, burying his face in a pillow.

 _Ahaha, it's one thing to talk to yourself, but come on tod. Keep it together!_

Nick tried to get more sleep, but his mind continued to race, tormenting him every time he was about to drift off with images of feminine curves and phantasmic moans. He glanced off to his clock. It would be going off in another hour so there was no longer any point in trying to sleep. He got up and flicked on the lights and began to do a few light exercises. Nick had never been flabby, but while he was at the academy his muscles gained a certain definition that made his already larger than life ego swell to greater heights and he was motivated to hold on to his new sexy body.

When he finished he checked himself out in the mirror, pleased with the results.

 _Well you may be a piece of shit on the inside, but at least you're wrapped up in a pretty package._

Nick shook the thought from his mind and hopped into the shower after starting the biggest, strongest pot of coffee he could.

A couple hours later he was dressed in his pressed blue uniform and had set his usual cool and aloof mask under his oversized aviators as he entered the bullpen and spied his partner. She flashed him her patented, beautiful, buck-toothed smile and he sat next to her with his thermos of coffee. Coming into the bullpen was strictly a formality at this point as they knew that until the "Lovebird Killer" was caught, they were at the beck and call of the homicide department.

"You should have told me you were brown bagging it for lunch today. I assumed we were getting our usual today," She asked with a hint of disappointment in her voice, noticing his container.

"Nope, just trying to make the world a better place, one less disposable coffee cup at a time," he responded with a sly wink. There was no way he could tell her that he'd been guzzling the black brew for the past two hours because he needed the extra caffeine to make up for the lack of sleep he was getting from ravaging her imaginary form all night. He could still hear dream Judy's moans, and voice begging for more. Luckily, the real Judy seemed to buy his bluff with an impressed nod.

The chief came in a few moments later and passed out the assignment, to which the fox and bunny officers were to be shackled to the homicide department, doing tedious grunt work, watching security videos and go-for-ing at the older mammals every whim and want.

Sure enough as soon as they entered the homicide office, they were set up at the computers to review security footage. Luckily, both animals had foreseen this possibility and, at advice of a few veteran officers, they had each brought their earbuds, hoping that streaming lively music into their ears would help keep them alert as they skimmed through the hours of security footage.

Three hours, five coffee breaks and seven bathroom breaks and two glorious runs to the copier later both mammals were at their wits end with their boring chore. Nick was struggling to stay awake and Judy was genuinely suffering through the task as her foot bounced furiously in between frequent body position shifts. Nick's eyelids were getting heavy and he was losing his battle with sleep when he was startled into alertness by the sudden seizure of one of his ear buds. He gave a few surprised blinks before he looked at the head phone thief sitting next to him.

"What are you doing, Fluff?" he asked with a sleepy, grumpy edge. She adjusted the screen of the computer and moved her chair so that her back was facing him and her shoulder rested against his.

"I'm bored," she replied simply, "and I'm curious about what music you were listening to." What was he listening to? The musical tactic had failed him long ago and he couldn't even recall what the last song was that he had even paid any attention to. All he knew what that he had flipped on his favorite streaming channel which normally played the kind of pseudo-edgy rock music that he rarely admitted to enjoying. He listened in as, instead of the usual heavy drums and electric guitars, a sad melody played on a piano and violins flowed into his one ear as a male voice sang out sadly:

"Call me a sinner, call me a saint, / Tell me it's over, I'll still love you the same,"

"Aww, Nick I didn't know you were so sappy! Slick Nick the romantic," she teased, her eyes never leaving her computer screen.

"Whatever, You're probably a top 40's, Gazelle junkie like Clawhouser," he shot back grumpily.

"M-m-m-maybe," she replied as she swung her earbuds. He could sense a trap and refused to fall into it. Instead he pressed for the next song to play and was pleased as the metal guitar riffs poured out of the tiny speakers.

"Watch your tongue or have it cut from your head, / Save your life by keeping whispers unsaid, / Children roam the streets, now orphans of war, / Bodies hanging in the streets to adore."

"Oh God, Nick. That's terrible!" she exclaimed as she ejected the speaker from her ear.

"Seriously? You think that's bad , then you haven't heard their early stuff," he teased. He could feel her slump back against his shoulder and he could tell she was pouting without even looking. Her game didn't go quite how she had planned. A pang of guilt hit him and he opened his own playlist on his phone and shuffled through his music to find just the right song for her. He nudged her to put the speaker back in her ear. She relented after a while and was pleasantly surprised as a twangy melody played.

"Dear God, the only thing I ask of you, / Is to hold her when I'm not around, / When I'm much to far away."

"See, I knew you'd like their earlier stuff," he could feel her relax for the few minutes that the music played in her ear. When the song was finished she passed Nick one of her ear buds and he placed it in his free ear and paused his tunes. He heard an equally twangy song come on before a female began to sing.

"Here's to us, here's to love, / And all the times that we messed up, / Here's to you, fill the glass, / 'Cause the last few days have kicked my ass."

The small effort of switching out songs turned out to be just the stimulant they both needed to keep watching the mundane images on their screens, however, what started as a single sappy song to appease his partner ended up setting a precedent for picking out various sickly sweet songs from different genres. Most of them could be considered love songs, but even on a platonic level, they all fit Nick and Judy quite well, which was fine until Judy, whether intentionally, or because she had ran out of other songs, played the remake of a classic song that had to be nearly as old as she was;

"It was a rainy night, / When he came into sight, / Standing by the road, / With no umbrella, no coat"

Nick gulped hard. He was very familiar with the tune and he knew what came next in the song, even if it wasn't the same singer he was familiar with. He wondered if there was any intention in the lyrics towards him. Looking back on the song choices, it wouldn't be an unreasonable assumption to say that he had unconsciously been wooing the bunny. Was she doing the same to him?

"All I want to do is make love to you, / Say you will, that you want me too, / All I want to do is make love to you, / I've got lovin' arms to hold on too,"

 _Good job, idiot. Now you've lead her along._

 _It's just a song, it doesn't mean anything._

As if she could read his mind she wiggled her shoulders against his. Was she actually coming on to him or just getting more comfortable? He racked his brain, but his otherwise silver tongue was failing to come up with any way to ask without sounding like an idiot. Instead, all he could think of was her reaction to his questioning if he was wrong. Would she laugh it off? Would things get awkward? Even if she was interested in him, there were all the other complications that came with being in an interspecies relationship that he reminded himself of after every sleepless night.

 _Put a stop to it. Now!_

Nick swallowed hard and picked a song that wasn't too vulgar, but would definetly change the mood of their little game. The song started off as a creepy lullaby before the guitars came in and the singer announced:

"Nightmare! Now your nightmare comes to life!"

Great, now I've given her the impression that sex with her would be a nightmare. Smooth.

"Ugh, Nick! Just because I can handle a crime scene doesn't mean I enjoy that vulgar nonsense," she complained as she took back her own headphones and left his dangling over his shoulder. The game was now over, and he knew that he had lost when she moved her chair away from him.

 _Dumb fox._

The next hour and half was spent in an excruciating awkwardness, but thankfully after lunch, the investigators split them up, Nick going with Lupe and Judy going was Tanuki, to canvases the areas where the victims were found. Judy and Tanuki spent their time in the car talking about investigation techniques and she learned more about profiling, whereas Nick and Lupe tried to one up each other's crazy drinking stories which was a great distraction from his guilt over how his game had ended with Judy. When the officers returned after their uneventful trips, they were both feeling more relaxed.

"Hey, Slick!" Judy greeted the fox with a perky hop. "This day has been a butt and I need to bust out. Come out for drinks with me? Maybe some dancing?"

 _"All I want to do is make love to you,"_

"Yeah, that sounds great, but I haven't been sleeping well lately so I'm going to go home and crash," Nick replied sheepishly. While he was grateful that she seemed to be over the game from earlier, he dreaded the thought of losing his composure around the female that already took so much effort to resist.

"Oh," her ears drooped in disappointment and he was struck with the desire to hug her and stroke those long, silver ears.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Carrots," Nick waved as he walked away. His heart tugged in his chest. He wanted desperately to turn around and go with her to the bar. He wanted to take her out onto a dance floor and move his body against her, getting them both worked up. He wanted to drink away his doubts and kiss her fully on the mouth, maybe take her home afterwards and try some of the moves he had only dreamed about. The entire trip home he couldn't help but imagine the passionate evening he was willfully missing out on. When he finally returned to his home both his heart and his loin were begging his hands to pull the phone out of his pocket and dial her number, but it was the doubt in his head that stopped him.

 _Go on, pull out the phone. Go drinking. Try to kiss her. I will be here to laugh when she rejects you. Or maybe it won't be me that laughs, maybe it will be the Lovebird Killer._

Nick ran his paws over his face as he pulled out his phone. His heart raced as he stared at the blank screen.

 _Or, we could call this silly little crush exactly what it is. When was the last time you got laid? This is nothing more than your cock whispering sweet hopeful nothings. You couldn't fuck that tiny body even if you wanted to. You think she'll still want to be friends with you after you break her? No, make the safe call._

Nick snatched up the phone and pressed the buttons for it to start ringing. His heart raced until he heard the feminine voice answer.

"Hey, Vicky. What are you up to?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes: There are quite a few song lyrics that do not belong to me. Here are the song's and their artists in order of appearance:**

 **"Call Me" -Shinedown**

 **"Hail to the King" -Avenged Sevenfold**

 **"Dear God" -Avenged Sevenfold**

 **"Here's to Us" -Halestorm**

 **"All I want to do is Make Love to You" -Heart**

 **"Nightmare"-Avenged Sevenfold**

*Sits back and waits for the number of followers and favs to drop*


	9. Clear the Air

_Poor Nick, he's been so down lately. I guess this investigative stuff isn't really his thing, which is surprising. I would have thought he'd like figuring out mysteries, as smart as he is. Oh well, I hope this cheers him up._

Judy was deep in thought as she entered the bullpen carrying in two cups of coffee, a bag of goodies from the coffee shop and a thick manilla folder. She wasn't quite sure what her partner would be in the mood for but she figured she could cover her bases with both a carnivorous friendly breakfast sandwich and a blueberry muffin. For herself, she pulled out a fruit and yogurt parfait and eagerly popped a half frozen strawberry into her mouth as she opened the casefile for the murders she and Nick were helping out on. Tanuki would have had a fit if he knew Lupe had given her access to the folder, but the scruffy wolf agreed with Judy that the officers would be better suited to assist them if they were privy to all the details of the case.

"How can you eat while you look at that?" Judy looked up from the autopsy photos with a spoonful of yogurt still in her mouth at the disgusted face of the officer Delgato. She slowly pulled the spoon out of her mouth, suddenly feeling very self conscious. This case was starting to change her, less than a year ago she was puking her guts out at the sight of a gunshot victim, and now she was staring at pictures of the open body cavity and smashed in skull of a bat while stuffing her face.

"Umm," she couldn't think of response to the tall lion so she just slowly closed the file and sank into her seat. He shook his head at the embarrassed bunny before moving to his usual spot in the back of the room. Her long ears burned, but luckily she didn't have to stew in her embarrassment for long as her emotion quickly shifted to concern as her partner walked into the room. The fox's uniform was wrinkled and untucked, and his usual slicked back fur was ruffled and messy. He walked to his spot next to his partner with his shoulders slumped forward and greeted his partner with a grunt instead of his usual charming smile.

 _Wow, this is worse than I thought. He looks like shit. This isn't like him._

"Hey Slick, I brought you some coffee and a sandwich!" she greeted her partner in her usual chipper tone. He glanced at the coffee for a long time, she could see his eyes were completely bloodshot behind his sunglasses. Did he get any sleep at all last night? He didn't even seem to have the energy to put himself together.

Nick gave a small jump as she placed her paw on the tip of his nose. "Still cold and wet so you don't have a fever. You look like crap, Nick. Maybe you should take the day off?"

"Day off? No, I, uh, I can't. I'm fine. Thanks for the coffee," he replied quickly before grabbing the cup. He tried to take a sip but instantly burned his tongue on the hot liquid. Judy watched him clumsily set down his drink before he ran his paws over his head.

"Um, I got you a sandwich too. And a muffin, it's blueberry, your favorite!" Judy tried desperately to get her partner out of his funk, but he just stared sadly at the muffin as if it had broken his heart.

"Oh, I know!" Judy exclaimed, still trying to cheer the ruffled fox, " What do you call an alligator in a vest?" she paused and gave him an eager smile. He just looked back at the bunny, his expression hidden behind large reflective lenses. "An investigator! Get it?" She smiled even wider, but it soon faded. He gave an amused huff which was nowhere near the cackle of laughter he usually had for cheesy jokes and bad puns.

 _What is his deal?_

"Ok, partner, enough joking around. What is wrong? You are so far from your usual self you don't even look like Nick Wilde. Talk to me, please," she reached out and rubbed his paw gently as she spoke, but he quickly snatched it away. Judy could feel her chest tighten with worry.

"Sorry," he sighed, "maybe you're right. I don't feel like myself and I didn't get any sleep last night. I feel like crap," Nick admitted and laid his muzzle across the table and closed his eyes. He looked like he could have fallen asleep right there. Judy rubbed his back and his tail gave a lazy sway in response. Judy could count on one paw the amount of times his tail had wagged in happiness since she knew him. She wasn't sure if it was part of his whole "don't let them see that they get to you" philosophy, or if he really experienced true joy so infrequently, despite what his sly and charming smiles and quick laughter might suggest. His tail stopped wagging soon after it started as his eyes opened back up and he stared sadly into space.

"Go home Slick, I'm sure I can handle the detectives on my own. You said you hadn't been sleeping well. Go take care of yourself," Judy insisted with a gentle smile. Nick looked back at her and managed a small smile of his own.

"Thanks, Carrots. You're-well, thanks," Nick replied with a sign before his smile faded away. He made to get up but he was too late as the officers began their usual chant to greet the chief. Judy hooted along with the rest of the officers, but her paw never left her partner's back. He tried to straighten himself and look presentable for the large buffalo.

"Quiet! That's enough! SHUT IT!" Bogo came in and gave his customary greeting and glared at the officers across the room and before finally landing on the unkempt fox.

"Hopps, what is the meaning of allowing your partner to disgrace his uniform in this manner? He looks like he just rolled out of bed," Bogo scolded.

"Sorry Sir, he's sick, and he's going home," she explained and she could feel her partner shrink from the larger mammal.

"Wilde, if you are unwell enough that you cannot even dress yourself properly, then you are unwell enough to do your job properly. My officers must have their wits about them at all times when they are on the streets, otherwise mistakes get made and officers get killed. I don't want to see your ugly mug back here until you can at least sit in your damn chair straight," Bogo berated the fox, though the concern was obvious despite the belittling tone. Nick only nodded, instead of taking advantage of the prime opportunity to tease the tough, old bull and slipped out of his seat and slunk towards the door.

 _I should check up on him later._ Judy thought to herself as he left. Bogo continued his usual morning meeting, and to no surprise, she and her absent partner were still assigned to the homicide department. She made her way slowly to the messy office after the other larger officers filed out. She tried to get the fox out of her head to concentrate on her work, but she found that she was constantly checking the time and counting down the minutes until she could leave to check on her partner.

The end of the day could not come fast enough, and she was surprised at how easily she was distracted by her absent partner. Yesterday she had been so motivated to give every piece of herself to solving the case and preventing more murders, but today, it was like the highly televised crimes were nothing more than over sensationalized jaywalking that wasn't worth her time or talent. It bothered her how the fox had gotten so under her skin.

 _He's your partner and friend and he's sick. You are kind, caring and sensitive towards others. You're worried about him, that's natural._

 _No, there's something more. I can't put my pad on it, but something is definitely off. The trouble is, I don't know if this sense of dread is really coming from Nick, or if it's coming from me. He's sick. Big deal. I'll check in on him later. There is nothing I can do for him right now, and yet I can't stop thinking about him. Why? I wouldn't be this concerned if any other friend were sick._

 _Well, to be fair, he's not exactly like your other friends._

Her chest tightened as she changed out of her uniform in the locker room. Why was Nick occupying her thoughts so much? She was surprised by how much she had missed his sarcastic comments and quick jokes and how dull her day was without them. She pulled an oversized ZPD t-shirt over her head and grabbed the paper bag from from the coffee shop, with the untouched blueberry muffin still inside. She pawned the breakfast sandwich off on Lupe hours earlier, as the egg and salmon in the sandwich would have given her an upset stomach. She checked her phone as she made her way out of the precinct. She had sent Nick several texts and had even called him on her lunch break but he hadn't responded to her in any form. She assumed that maybe he was getting the sleep he needed so badly but yet she couldn't shake her sense of dread. She tried calling him one last time while walking down the street but there was still no answer. It was a long and agonizing walk to his apartment as her worried thoughts flooded her mind without the distraction of work. She hoped he was awake enough to answer his door and considered talking to him about swapping apartment keys in case something like this came up again when she finally got to his place.

She went to press the doorbell for his place when a vixen had nearly hit her with the door as she exited. The vixen stopped and looked at her for a moment before giving the bunny a wicked smile.

"Do you need to get in sweet heart? Here, let me," she said sweetly as she held the door open for Judy. There was something off, fake even, in the fox's sweetness and Judy looked into the vixen's face, trying to figure out why her subconscious was telling her to beware the otherwise harmless looking female. She looked vaguely familiar, though Judy couldn't place where she knew the vixen from.

"Umm, thanks?" the bunny replied before she slid into the building. She didn't dare take her eyes off the vixen for more than a second until she was a safe distance away. The fact that the vixen stood in the door and watched Judy make her way down the hall towards the stairwell didn't help to put her at ease.

"I left his door unlocked. Go right in and help yourself," The vixen called out at last before she turned to leave.

Judy felt a wave of shock run through her as the identity of the vixen was suddenly clear. She ran the rest of the way to Nick's apartment and stood before the door. She hesitated for only a moment before she knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again and still she received no answer. She took a deep breath and said a prayer as she tried the door handle. Judy couldn't decide if she was relieved or even more worried that the handle twisted easily and the door pressed inwards.

Any sense of relief she felt quickly dissipated as a combination of smells wafted towards her like flood waters breaking through a levy. Part of the scent was clearly that of beer and she imagined a spilt bottle or can leaking into the carpeting. The other scent was new to her but reminded her of when her brothers or sisters invited their boyfriends or girlfriends back home, only stronger. While she had definitely never experienced this smell before, there was no denying the musky odor was the lingering scent of two foxes making love.

She took a deep breath and wiped away the tears that instantly glazed over her eyes and bolstered herself before she entered the apartment. As she walked in she could see not only one spilled container, but several empty bottles of beer littered all over the place. A half drunk bottle of tequila sat open on the counter and in the middle of everything Nick was laid out, sprawled on the couch and wearing nothing but a pair of white and red checked boxers. His fur was a mess, his eyes stared sadly at the ceiling and a nearly empty bottle dangled limply from one paw. Judy's heart skipped a single beat looking at him, completely exposed save his most private parts, but sunk at his pathetic state. His dead eyes stared up into nothingness and blinked slowly. She stood above him, easily within his field of vision, but if her saw her, he gave no response or greeting.

"Nick what are you doing? I thought you were sick, but now I see you've been drinking. Were you drunk this morning?" she asked, barely able to contain her emotion. Nick's ears turned towards her but he just closed his eyes slowly and his mouth pulled back into a pained frown.

"Nick, why does it smell like sex in here and why did I just watch Vicky leave your building?" her words were choked and she could feel the tears building in her eyes but she got no response from the drunken fox. "I mean, it's no business of mine who you screw, but why her? You told me she was terrible to you. Why would you ever return to an abusive partner or was that one night all just some act? Some kind of hustle to get the dumb bunny to do what you want?" again he gave no response aside from a long sigh as his eyes squeezed tight.

Judy threw her paws high in the air, as the tears began streaming quietly down her cheeks. "Fine, don't talk to me. I can't believe I wasted a whole day worrying over you. I'm such an idiot. I can't believe I ever-" she had to force herself to stop speaking or her words would have been overcome by sobs. She turned from him towards the kitchen and tried to muffle her crying the best she could, but in the quiet apartment, a mammal didn't need giant ears to hear her pained sobs, choking the breath from her chest.

"No," she cried, as much to the fox as herself, "No. Like it or not, you are still my partner, and this is not how an officer of the ZPD behaves." She turned back to her partner and stomped towards him. "You, Nicholas Wilde, are going to sober up and get your shit together and so help me, if you ever show up to work drunk again. I'll turn you into Bogo myself and have you fired so fast your ears will ring. Do you understand me? Just because you don't respect me or the badge, doesn't mean I'll let you hurt the career that I worked so hard for," She screamed at the fox who continued to lay unresponsive, save a growing dark stain that ran from the corner of his eyes down into the fur of his cheeks.

She ran to the window and pushed it as open as far as it would go to air out the stink before stomping to the bathroom. Her re-entrance to the livingroom was heralded by the sound of water running as she huffed, red eyed, at the barely conscious fox. "Alright fox! You stink and your place stinks and I'm sick of smelling her and what you two did. We're going to fix that first and then you are going to eat this damn muffin and drink some fucking water and go to bed so I can have my partner back and, my God, you will be your usual smug, annoying, sober self. Do I make myself clear?" she tugged on his arm as she yelled until he slid completely off the couch and onto her back. Her knees nearly gave way under his weight as she struggled to carry his barely conscious form to the bathroom.

"God, Nick! What do you weigh? Forty pounds? Fifty?" her thighs were shaking and burning by the time she reached the bathroom and, with the last bit of her strength, she dumped the fox into the tub.

"Holy fuck Carrots! Why did you dump me in a cold tub?" Nick cried out as he emerged from the lukewarm water, finally revived by the shock of submersion.

"I turned on the hot water."

"You have to let it run down the drain for a minute, jeeze!" Nick whined as he grasped at the sides of the tub.

"Oops" she shrugged, not feeling the least bit sorry. Judy grabbed at Nick's flailing shoulders and pulled his back towards her. After a bit of positioning to get the squirming fox to sit still, she reached for a bottle of shampoo and began building up a lather on Nick's head and back.

"You know, it's a good thing I changed out of my uniform before coming over here because I'm pretty sure you said if a situation came up like this, I was to put a bullet right here." she jabbed verbally and she smacked him upside the back of his head.

"Be gentle, Carrots. Unless you want me throw up here in the tub," Nick pouted before adding, "You probably should go back to the station and get it."

"That would be too easy, ya lazy fox. Instead you're going to tell me exactly what's going on and why the hell you're acting like such a dumb ass." Judy demanded.

Nick sunk further into the tub at the sound of her angry voice as he pouted like a child, "I thought you weren't going to pry into my past?"

"I never promised not to pry into your present," Judy corrected before turning her tone into a slightly gentler one, "You told me you two were toxic towards each other. Why are you back with her?"

Nick shrugged and nodded his head. He thought for a moment before answering with a sad smirk, "Maybe it's love?"

"You wouldn't be trying to kill yourself with alcohol poisoning if it were love," she countered. Judy knew her partner well enough to tell when he was giving a half assed lie to get out of something and she wasn't about to play into any of it.

He paused for a moment as Judy continued to rub her soapy paws into his shoulders, "Maybe I just realized that she's what I deserve."

"Quit making up excuses and give me the real reason. You're too old to be this angsty."

Nick huffed a small laugh before relenting, "Fine, I was trying to distract myself."

"From what? The case? If it bothered you, you could have asked for a transfer. Hell, I would have made a request with you. You can talk to me about these things. We are partners after all and you wouldn't be the first cop that turned down homicide," Judy reasoned.

"It's not the case, well, not just the case," Nick explained, though Judy could tell he was struggling to get to the real reason for his recent mood.

"Then what?" she tried to ask gently, although her frustration was getting to her.

She could feel his shoulders tighten and his paws ran across his face and down the back of his head. "I, uh," he paused, trying gather his thoughts, "there is someone else," he said with a careful pause in between each word. "I can't go after her but I can't get her out of my head. I can't sleep 'cause I dream of her. It was becoming a damn obsession."

"Wow. Ok. It sounds like the very definition of 'madly in love.'" Though she was relieved that she was finally figuring out what was really wrong with her partner, she couldn't help but notice the a tight feeling grow in her chest.

"Heh, I tried telling myself it wasn't real. Just hormones. I just needed to get laid. But now I feel like I've betrayed her. I was stupid, I know," she could hear the ache in his voice as he spoke and her heart ached with him.

"So, this person you fell in love with. Why didn't you just talk to her," she asked calmly, though her insides were a wave of nervous emotions. She tried to think of who he could be talking about, but after work he usually spent all his time with her. She pulled her hands off his back for just a moment as her chest began to thump heavily.

 _Who else could he be talking about, except..._

"Heh, she's too good for me, too important. I don't think I could take the rejection."

"What makes you think she would reject you?"

 _He can't be talking about me? I'm not that important, and even if I wasn't interested, it's not like I would have been cruel. He must know that._

"Are you kidding me? Look at me, drunk and in the tub with half my clothes still on. I'm a pathetic, sad sack. But her? She's amazing. She made me believe that I could be more than a shifty fox. She's so pure and good. She doesn't need a no good fox like me dragging her down. She deserves more than me."

"Ok, that sounds awfully sweet, but frankly, it sounds like you're just making excuses for your own shitty actions." She could feel him tense under her fingers. Her voice grew harsh and heart thumped like a bass drum in her chest. "You don't actually value her if you're not even going to take a chance on her. You don't respect her enough to be honest with her. You don't trust her enough to feel like she will even be the least bit considerate of your feelings. You won't even give her a chance." Judy could feel the tears run down her cheeks as her voice became louder and more enraged. "No, you're so absorbed in yourself that you don't see how much she already loves you back, how she is always trying to be close to you, how she has ALWAYS believed in you. She loves you so much that she will even come over to take care of you, even after you fucked some other bitch because she just wants you to be ok!" Her voice grew more hysterical with each word as she spoke, and her paws that had been running gently through his wet fur were now pushing against his shoulders, no longer able to contain her rage.

Nick twisted around in the tub to face Judy. Her face was buried in her arms as she sobbed heavily. His paw gingerly touch her shoulder but instead of accepting him, she swatted at his paws and glared angrily, her face nearly as wet as his. "I can't believe you Nick! I can understand being nervous about your feelings. But how could you turn to her? How could you choose her over me? I thought you hated her! I thought she was terrible to you! You said she abused you but you'd rather be miserable with her than even give me a chance. Do I mean so little to you? Well screw you, Nick!" she screamed before running from the bathroom.

Nick felt his heart sink as he listened to Judy sobbing from the warmth of the tub. He rested his jaw on the edge of the tub feeling lower than the floor tiles of the Zootopia subway system. All this times he had been trying to avoid hurting her, and now her heart was broken and Nick had no one to blame but himself.

" _She already loves you...she loves you so much."_

Her words ran through Nick's head as he stewed in the tub over how stupid he had been.

" _You don't trust her. You don't respect her. You fucked some other bitch."_

"How could I be so dumb?" Nick whispered to himself

" _Screw you, Nick! You fucked some other bitch. Screw you, Nick!"_

Nick considered sinking down below the water's surface, and never come back up again. He could still hear her crying in his bedroom and a vision of her red face, contorted in the pained anger she had moments ago filled his mind's eye.

" _She has ALWAYS believed in you. You fucked some other bitch. She loves you so much."_

 _I fucked up. I fucked up and if I don't fix this now I might lose her. Grow some balls, go in there and apologize. Don't defend yourself, because there is no defense for you. What ever she says, just take it. It's what you deserve._

Nick sighed. He knew what he had to do, but mustering the courage to actually do it was tougher than he expected it to be. He rinsed himself off, and though his mind had cleared, his alcohol soaked body was shaky and his head spun as he stepped out of the tub. He was forced to dry himself slowly lest he throw off his delicate equilibrium and get terribly ill. He steadied himself on the sink as he swapped out the soaking semi-transparent checked boxers for a not-too-dirty pair of sweatpants from the hamper.

He exited the bathroom timidly, his ears pinned back against his head and his tail dragged along the floor, picking up dust bunnies with his damp fur. He peeked quietly around the corner, nervous for what lay in his own bedroom. He could see the tiny bunny, her face was buried deep in a pillow which she clutched tightly with her arms and legs. He could see her side raise and lowers as she continued to take in shaky, tear choked breaths. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to scoop her up into his arms and hug her and make all her pain go away, but he stayed his paws, knowing that it would take more than hugs and soft words to cheer her. He moved quietly to the far side of the bed and sat beside her. He could see her ears twitch as she acknowledged his, though she refused to speak to him.

"Judy, I, uh, I'm sorry. You're right. I was being a coward and an idiot and because of that I hurt not only myself, but you too. I should have been honest. I should have put my trust in you, instead of giving in to my own fears. You deserved the truth, about me, and how I was feeling. And now, everything has gone so wrong and I may have pushed away the only mammal who's ever mattered to me and I can't even blame you if you never wanted to speak to me ever again." Nick sighed as he blinked away the tears that threatened to fall into his already damp fur.

"You know, if you had just told me how you felt, even a week ago, we could still be laying here but for totally different reasons. If you weren't so dumb," Judy's voice was muffled by the pillow but Nick could hear her well enough to catch her meeting and he let out a small, sad chuckle for it.

"Do you think you could really see yourself with me? As my mate?" Nick asked hopefully though he felt more the idiot. He lied down on the bed facing her but still kept his distance.

"Pfft, not now. I'm so mad at you," Judy pulled her face from the pillow to be heard better, though she still wouldn't look at him. "If you want to be my 'mate' you better be ultra charming from here on out. I'm talking romantic dinners, flowers, opening doors, the works. If you want to get into my pants, you better make me feel like a princess, damn it. Oh, and tell that vixen to take a hike!"

Nick couldn't help but smile and he moved the tip of his nose to gently touch her arm cautiously. "So, then you'll forgive me?"

Judy finally looked into the eyes of the apologetic fox. Her eyes were red and puffy as she glared at him. He gave her an awkward, sly smile and did his best to give her big innocent, doey eyes. Her eyes narrowed before she shoved her paw into his face and shoved him away with a small laugh.

"Like a princess!"


	10. Finally a Clue

The next day Judy walked into the precinct exhausted from the previous night's emotional roller coaster and still unsure about how deal with her partner. She was never one to hold a grudge, but his declaration of love and poor decision making had thrown her off balance. He had wanted her to stay the night and she admitted there was a certain attraction to his streetwise charm and quick wit but a sensibly bitter part of her told her to stay back, if only a little. She had lain in her own bed, alone, until early in the morning, trying to analyze her feelings. She tried to picture herself in his arms and the thought of his claws grazing against her skin and his coarse fur pressed against hers left her with an exhilarating feeling but the fact that he had hidden his feelings and tried to deceive her out of his own fear scared her. He had already proven to be a great friend and the idea of him as a lover was an exciting prospect but she questioned if the relationship could actually grow in any sort of sustainable way. Would he stay with her when times got tough? Would he have the courage to communicate to her his problems in life, or would he hide things and allow them to fester unattended until things were too bad to fix? A part of her regretted that she had already agreed to give him a chance at a romantic relationship, despite his betrayal, but another part of her was too curious to stay away from him.

Her head was swirling and preoccupied when she heard a familiar voice call her name. She snapped out of her own little world and saw several officers standing by the reception desk and Benjamin was waving her over to his desk with a big cheesy grin, surrounded by an entire garden's worth of cut flowers.

"Hey Ben, what's with the flowers?" she asked, finally noticing their strong perfume.

"Oh, Em, Goodness! I didn't know you had a little bunny boyfriend! He must be awfully sweet on you to send you all these flowers," he exclaimed with an excited clap.

"M-my boyfriend?" Judy stammered looking at several, overflowing bouquets of white, pink and lavender roses, lilies, carnations, and daisies.

"Must be be pretty well off to afford all those flowers." Judy heard a murmur from one of the cops with her keen ears.

"That or he must have really messed up," came another voice. She turned and glared at the whispering wolves behind her. At the sight of the glaring bunny, both predators averted their gazes and set their ears back. Satisfied at her command over the larger animals, Judy reached for the card Ben was trying to get her to open.

"Read it out loud! I have to know everything about the little buck snuggling up to our only bunny cop!" Ben encouraged her and several of the other officers nodded in agreement. Judy gulped down hard and she could feel her cheeks and ears burn as a blush spread across her face.

 _Oh, Nick. I don't think I'm ready for everyone to know about us! Please tell me you didn't sign the card,_ Judy begged internally and scanned the crowed of officers for her absent partner. Not seeing him anywhere around, she opened the card slowly, dreading what it's contents might be. She quickly scanned the writing and relaxed before she cleared her throat and read the card for all her nosy coworkers.

"Judy," _Thank you for not addressing me as Carrots or some other silly name,_ she thought before continuing to read. "I know I messed up."

"Called it!" came a shout from the crowed followed by much shushing from the other officers.

"I know I messed up," Judy continued with a small laugh, "and there is nothing I can do to express how sorry I am, but please know that I love you so much. You made me the animal I am today. I don't know what I would do without you. Love, Rey."

Judy hid her smile as the other, some what clueless, officers swooned or made comments over the short letter. _Sly fox,_ she thought picking up on the joke in the pen name.

"How have I never heard of this 'Rey' before Judy? I thought we were friends," came the swooning whine from the cheetah.

"Sorry Benny, it's, uh, complicated," Judy tried to explain without giving too much information.

"He must be head over paws for you then, Hoppsy," Judy recognized Fangmeyers's low, rumbling voice without even having to look at the tall tigress, "Would you like help moving these?" Judy thanked the big cat internally for her motherly practicality which was always appreciated.

"Thanks Monique, I think they can stay here. If you don't mind that is?" she asked looking from the tiger to the cheetah who nodded feverishly in glee. Judy hopped up on the counter and looked over a single bouquet before picking out a lavender lily with darker purple spots. "I will bring this with me though!" she announced with a big whiff of the flower that covered most of her face before skipping towards the bullpen. She knew that the other officers were probably snickering and her child-like glee, even calling her cute behind her back, but, when cats purred and dogs wagged their tails, happy rabbits hopped.

She continued her hop, right into the bullpen and onto the seat where her partner sat waiting with his muzzle resting on the table, hiding behind his usual pair of aviators and a paper coffee cup.

"You seem extra chipper this morning," he greeted her groggily, though she could see a smile twitch on his muzzle as she fiddled with her flower.

"I am! I got a whole mess of flowers from my boyfriend, Rey," she responded, putting a little extra emphasis on the word "boyfriend." Nick licked his lips, trying to hide the smile forming on his muzzle as he straightened in his chair.

"Yeah, Wilde, you need to tell us about this 'Rey' fellow," Wolford said with a shove to the fox's shoulder. "You must know something. Is he good enough for our bunny?"

"Whoa, careful there buddy! I'm still feeling a little under the weather," Nick complained and Judy rolled her eyes, knowing full well what "under the weather" entailed. "And to answer your question, no he's not, not even by half. He's a little prick and a dumbass."

The wolf cop howled with laughter which was soon echoed by the other three wolf cops that were making their way into the bullpen. "Sounds like someone is a bit jealous, eh Hopps?"

Judy smiled at the wolf as she twirled her flower, "You shouldn't be so hard on him Nick, he's a good guy, albeit yes, he is a bit of a dummy. But considering we only just got into a fight last night, I'm pretty impressed he got these flowers here already."

"Guy must be loaded for the express delivery! Whatever he did, I'd stick with him! Get yourself a bit of that cushy life, eh Jude?" Wolford laughed.

"And that's probably why he sent the flowers here instead of to your apartment," Nick chimed in, trying to sound disapproving, though his smirk revealed his true feelings, "He's probably trying to impress your coworkers so they'll convince you to stick with him so he doesn't have to. What a sneaky bastard!"

"I'm sure you see through all his tricks. Don't you, sly fox?" Judy teased her partner.

"Can't outfox a fox, sweetheart!" he replied smugly as he leaned back in the chair.

Wolford opened his maw to continue the conversation, but was quickly cut off when the the arrival of the Chief was announced. The animals hooted, stomped and banged their customary greeting and Wolford made his way to his usual spot on the other side of the isle. Judy gave her partner a sidewise glance who gave her a knowing smile back between his own barks. She hid her flower under the table as Bogo entered, giving his own annoyed sounding greeting by telling the whole room to be quiet in a less than polite way.

"SHUT UP!" the cape buffalo bellowed, "Assignments! No changes from yesterday, except Hopps and Wilde. You're back on patrol duty."

"But Sir," Judy called, her giddiness replaced with a serious concern, "I thought we were with homicide until the lovebird killer was caught?"

"I need my officers on the streets, not holed up in some office watching pointless security tapes all day. You two are beat cops and report to me. Don't forget that," Bogo explained in his usual annoyed tone. Judy made no further arguments. As much as she wanted to continue to help on the case, she agreed that her talents were being wasted on such menial tasks and she was in too good a mood to be stuck somewhere where she wouldn't be able to feel the sun on her fur. She shrugged towards her partner who silently mouthed a "Thank God" back to her.

Bogo continued his daily updates, reminding his officers to keep safety a priority, before they were released to their various assignments.

"Any chance you'll let me handle the monster today?" Nick asked with a smirk.

"Not on your life fox," Judy replied with a teasing wave of her keys. Nick gave her a gentle nudge with his hip before he climbed into the passenger side of the large vehicle. Judy also climbed in, but before she strapped herself into the seat, she stood up and placed the stem of her flower above the visor, leaving the bloom hanging above her head. She looked at the flower longingly and let out a content sigh.

Nick looked at the flower as well, hanging like a purple star over his partner's head. "So Carrots, what is the verdict of this mystery boyfriend of yours? Do you really forgive him?" Nick asked with a sly smile.

The smile slowly faded from her face and she let out a sad sigh as she stared up at the plant. Though the gesture was sweet, it would take more than trivial gifts to ease her concerns, and, unlike her partner, she believed in addressing issues as soon as they arose. "Let's drop this game. No one is around to hear us now. Let's just speak plainly." She looked over to her partner, the sadness she felt clearly painted across her face. "I thought about this long and hard last night. Nick, you are really special to me and I want to forgive you, I really do, but what you did scares me. It's not even that you slept with someone else, we weren't a thing and so technically, you didn't do anything wrong there, but it was why you did it that really bothers me. If you can't talk to me to tell me how you are feeling, how can I ever know when something is wrong? It bothers me that you couldn't just say 'Judy, or Carrots or whatever you feel like calling me, I think you're, I dunno, pretty and I'd like to take you on a date.' It just seems so pointless to put yourself through all that pain and aggravation. What horrible thing did you think was going to happen that scared you so much?"

Nick sat and stared out the window for a moment before speaking, "As I said last night, I was just afraid. Afraid that I was going to ruin something that was already great by trying to make it better and failing. I know I hurt you and I know it was dumb. I'm sorry."

"Just promise me that you'll talk to me from here on out, I am your friend after all. I want to be here for you," Judy replied as she rubbed her partner's knee. She gave him a hopeful smile and he returned the smile in kind before Judy took a big sigh and started the cruiser. They pulled out of the police station and barely made it a block before Judy let out a little snicker. Nick gave her an intrigued look before she said a single word with a smile, "Rey."

"Oh, like that one did you? I was hoping you were going to get it," Nick asked with a sly smirk.

"Of course I got it. Rey like reynard, as in a male fox," she glanced at her partner, his chest was puffed in pride at his clever partner.

"A lesser known name," he added, "but I thought 'Tod' would be too obvious."

Judy nodded in agreement, "At least you have a trick. What would I sign my secret letters with? Doe?"

"Hmmm, how about Jane? Like Jane Doe, an unidentified female," Nick suggested. Leave it to him to come up with a fitting name without much thought. Judy relaxed as they continued their mundane conversation as if nothing had happened over the past few days.

"Ok, Jane it is. I don't know when that will ever be useful," Judy mused, though she didn't have long to think about it. They hadn't been gone from the precinct for more than 15 minutes when Ben came in over the radio.

"We have a double 187 at 463 Madison Street in Happy Town. Hopps, this sounds like your guy. Are you in the area?"

Nick snatched the radio transceiver faster than Judy could react, and with a nod to his partner he pressed the call button to respond, "10-4 This is Officer Wilde, we can be on scene in 7 minutes. Quick, Carrots! Down that alley, to the right!" Nick commanded as he hung the transceiver back on its hook. "Happy Town is my old stomping grounds, I grew up there. I can get us to Madison Street faster than than ole Benny can run to a box of doughnuts!"

"I was starting to think you didn't want any part of this case," Judy questioned without taking her eyes off the road and Nick pressed the buttons to start the monster's lights and sirens.

"Well, it's been rough growing into it, take a left here, and no lie, I hate watching those damn security tapes," Nick said, placing an extra emphasis on the word "hate." His ears were perked and he leaned forward, scanning their surroundings carefully as the quality of the building quickly deteriorated into boarded up businesses and crumbling town houses. The monster jumped and lurched as it hit pothole after pothole. Judy kept her eyes on the streets and noticed the curious glares of mammals who slunk away from the screeching cruiser like cockroaches exposed to light.

"Take another right here. We need to catch this guy," he added, continuing the conversation, "He's obviously not going to stop." Judy dared take a single glance at her partner's determined face as she wheeled the speeding cruiser around the corner.

 _So this is where Nick grew up? Makes, sense actually. I wonder if he's more worried that he might know the next victims?_ Judy thought bitterly as she glanced around the broken sidewalks and windows that were covered in wrought iron bars. The meager yards were completely encased in chain link fences but didn't actually contain much, if any, grass.

"Right here, Madison Street," Nick called out, "Third house down after the intersection this way."

Judy pulled up to where he directed and they jumped out of the monster where an old nanny goat stood in a nightgown and bathrobe, sobbing uncontrollably and motioning towards the house.

"Stay here ma'am, we'll be right back!" Judy called to the distressed mammal. Nick arrived to the door first and with a nod to his partner, he pressed inward, his weapon at the ready.

"ZPD! We are coming in!" Nick announced, his voice much firmer and bolder than the last time he had said those words. Once again, the smell of blood filled the home and the two officers entered, checking closets, hall ways and side rooms for any sign of life. It wasn't until they arrived in the kitchen in the back of the house that they found the next set of victims. Slumped, with his arms bound behind his back, against the refrigerator was a goat with a broken horn and slashed open neck. His sunken in cheeks and rough fur made him look like he had seen better days, even before the killer had ever entered his life. Across from him was the naked and mangled carcass of sheep. Blood stained her ruffled but otherwise stylishly sheared wool, making her appear to have mottled brown fur with a few patches still white. Judy gave a concerned glance to her partner, his ears flicked nervously and his nose twitched, pulling in the acrid air, but thankfully his face appeared stoic and professional.

"Hopps, Wilde, this is Lupe. We are enroute. Is the crime scene secure?" The radio on Nick's hip went off causing the fox to jump. He glared at his partner, his annoyance not directed at her and she gave a small smile of understanding before holstering her gun.

"Lupe, this is Wilde," Nick replied, "Scene appears secure. Running sweeps now."

"10-4. Keep an eye out for beavers! If you see any beavers, apprehend immediately!" Nick looked to his partner who gave a shrug before dashing out of the house, past the wailing nanny and onto the sidewalk. There was no sign of any beavers, although other animals were gathering around the chain link fence, curious to the going ons. She ran slowly, trying to look casual, to the back of the house where Nick was sniffing the air and gave his partner a shrug.

"I don't see or smell any beavers. Why are we looking for beavers?" Nick asked his partner as she ran towards him, her ears twisting and turning for any clue she could find.

"At the last crime scene, while you were with the victim's sister, there was a paw print in blood. Lupe and Tanuki must have identified it as a beaver's paw. Hey, don't look at me like that, I didn't know!" Judy explained to her partner as he gave her an exasperated shrug.

"I wish we had known to look for a beaver earlier, I can't remember if we passed any," Nick said with a touch of annoyance as he scratched the back of his head.

"Damn," the little bunny cursed, "Not much we can do about it now. Let's finish securing the scene." Nick and Judy made their way back to the front of the house where the nanny continued her sobbing in the middle of the yard. As Judy approached her a white van with the familiar "ZNN" logo pulled up to the house. With all the commotion, the animals from the neighborhood began slowly pouring out of their homes for the chance to be up on the latest gossip and maybe be on the news.

"Ugh, this is getting out of hand," Judy grumbled to the fox, "I better get the goat before the reporters do. Will you tape off the area?"

Nick nodded in agreement as he headed towards the monster and Judy turned to the nanny, "Ma'am, please, I'm terribly sorry for your loss, but can you tell me what happened here?"

The goat looked at Judy but couldn't form any words through her choked sobs that boarded on hyperventilation. Judy tried her best to be as sweet and comforting as she could to calm the old goat, her sense of empathy and nonthreatening demeanor usually gave her an edge when it came to speaking with witnesses by putting them at ease, but no matter what Judy did, she couldn't calm the elderly mammal. Maybe her own frustrations were eking out in her voice. She looked around and spied a swing on the porch where she lead the goat to sit until she could calm herself.

"Poofy and Grizzle should be here any moment. How did things go with Gramma?" Nick asked his flustered partner as she stood off the porch, out of earshot of the old goat, trying to get her mind clear.

"She's not talking, too upset," Judy sighed as she wiped her brow and glanced at the reporters who were beginning their broadcast.

"Don't worry about them, just focus on your job. You're a great cop, you'll help solve this." Nick said in a soft voice as he placed his paw on her shoulder. His touch felt good and she returned the comforting gesture by reaching up and squeezing the paw that rested on her shoulder. She wanted nothing more than to step forward and hug the larger mammal, romantic intentions or no, and be comforted by him, but with the older detectives' arrival impending as well as a camera, no doubt recording them, and several dozen witnesses watching, she knew how important a professional appearance was. She sighed and released his paw and nodded to her partner that she would be ok. She turned towards the street where a tan undercover vehicle pulled up and Lupe and Tanuki made their way out of the car and through the crowd.

"What have we got?" Lupe asked the officers, however Tanuki entered the home without a glance to the officers or the nanny goat, who was still sobbing on the porch swing.

"Two victims, one male goat, dead, throat lacerated, presumable cause of death, blood loss. Second victim, a female sheep, beaten, and stabbed. No ID made. One witness, currently suffering from shock and incoherent." Judy regurgitated the facts to the wolf, lifelessly, as if she were a robot. Lupe nodded, satisfied with the explanation before he too turned to enter the house.

"Good work you two, go write your reports, and, for the love of God, make sure those civilians and reporters stay the hell back." Lupe directed over his shoulder before he disappeared from view.

"UGH!" Judy grunted, "That's it! After all the help, all the work we put in? We don't get to do any of the forensics? We don't get anymore new information? Did we do such a crappy job last time?" Judy could feel the tears well in her eyes, even though she tried to keep her cool in front of the crowd of animals.

"Whoa, relax, Carrots. Remember, we are just beat cops. We did our job, and we did it well. We even went above and beyond our duties. There will be other opportunities to shine," Nick did his best to comfort her.

She sighed and glanced into the scraggly flowerbed of withered daisies that lined the porch. The sight of the white flowers reminded her of the beautiful bouquets that had greeted her this morning and the single purple flower that waited for her in the monster and the handsome, albeit sometimes foolish, fox who had given her the generous gifts, the same fox who stood before her. She took a deep breath and let the memory relax her. She continued glancing into the flower bed, wishing for more to comfort her, be it the hug from the fox or the purple lily in her hands. Soon however, her mind froze as she noticed something off about the flowers that had been relaxing her. She blinked a few times staring into the bed, unsure for a moment as to what exactly grabbed her attention. Near the steps, a single daisy, among all the other pure white flowers, displayed a single bright red petal. Judy walked towards the single flower and knelt down.

"Carrots?" Nick asked as she passed him, but his voice was ignored as the bunny let out a long gasp.

"Nick, there's a business card down here. It's covered in blood. Oh God Nick! There's a picture of a beaver on it! And a name and phone number!" Nick was at his partner's side in a flash and glared into the flower bed and she cocked her head to read the small card without touching it. 'He's a repairman! That's how he gets in! This is him! We found the killer! We have to tell Lupe! Oh, Nick!" Judy jumped up and threw her arms around her partner's neck and planted a big kiss on his cheek in excitement, nearly knocking the poor fox over before she dashed into the house, calling for the investigators.

Nick smiled as he rubbed the spot where she had kissed him as he continued to glance at the blood splattered stroke of good luck while he could hear his partner cry out, "We've got him! I know who the Lovebird Killer is!"


	11. Trapper House

**Author's Note: This chapter gets a little gross, so you might not want to be eating anything while you read this. Up to you.**

"God Damn it Hopps! Keep your voice down! You better hope those reporters outside didn't hear you!" Tanuki yelled, his short fangs bared at the small bunny. Judy slid to a stop before the angry mammal and cowered for just a moment. Racoon dogs weren't known for being fearsome predators, but his sudden change from his usual cool demeanor caused Judy's natural instincts to flare up in response to her superior's ire.

At the sound of the angry voice, Nick had jumped up and ran up the steps of the porch, skipping a few on the way, and stood in the doorway. His eyes and ears darted between his partner and the investigator before he looked the racoon dog up and down, wondering how much of his bulk was muscle, and how much was just fur and fat.

After a brief pause, Judy stood herself up and glared at the angry mammal. "My apologies, Sir," she said, with no small trace of defiance, "but I happened on a piece of evidence by the front porch that I thought you would like to see. It seems like a pretty crucial piece." The rabbit and racoon dog glared at each other for a moment before he gave in and stormed past the bunny, making no effort to avoid her as he passed the officer in the hall. Judy, being the proud doe that she was, also made it a point not to move from his path and the two mammals colided into each other. Tanuki's superior size gave him the advantage however, and Judy was pushed into the wall by his elbow. Nick glared at the detective as he passed and did his best to suppress the growl that was forming in his throat as his muzzle twitched into the faintest snarl as Tanuki walked out of the house.

"Don't be too upset with him," Lupe spoke softly, to Judy as she dusted herself off, "When you are wearing that uniform, you must always act the professional, especially when news crews are around. You don't want to leak any sensitive material to the perpetrator you are trying to apprehend."

"Yes, Sir," she responded more sincerely as she gratefully waved off her partner who had moved closer to help her.

Tanuki returned shortly, the business card tucked safely away in a clear, zip-top evidence bag. He examined the protected card as he pulled out his phone. "Good find," was all he said as he dialed the number on the card into his phone, though he didn't seem to direct the compliment to anyone as he continued to stare at the card. "Hello. Yes, I was wondering if I could speak with Mike Trapper?" Tanuki paused as he listened to the speaker on the other side of the phone and all the other animals held their breaths as they listened closely, "I see, well I need to contact him immediately, do you have any contact info available? No? Do you have an mammal resources department, I would like to speak with them now. You do? Yes, I'll hold. Thank you."

Tanuki took the pause in conversation to address his partner, speaking over the heads of the two beat cops, "Apparently Mr. Trapper," he wove the business card as he spoke indicating the name on the card, "is no longer employed with the company, but there is a paw print so it's not nothing. Hopefully I can get an address from MR without a warrant. Lupe, be on standby in case I do need one."

Tanuki straightened his back and waved to his partner who pulled out his own phone before he began speaking, "Yes, hello. My name is Hiro Tanuki, I'm with the Zootopia Police Homicide Department, I need to get in touch with one of your former employees. That's right. His name is Mike Trapper. I understand but I believe he may have some crucial information on a case we are investigating. I can get a warrant but it will take some time and I need to speak with him immediately. Have you heard of the Lovebird Killer? Yes, that's right. No, no, just a phone number and address would be fine." Tanuki pulled a small notebook and pen from his coat pocket and quickly scrawled some information down. "Ok, thank you. The ZPD appreciates your cooperation with this. Yes. Good bye."

"What happened to not releasing information?" Nick mumbled under his breath. Judy's ear twitch and her flustered glare told him that she had heard him and agreed.

"We have an address. Officer Wilde, you're with me. Let's go." Tanuki waved before he turned out the door.

"Me? What do you want me for?" Nick asked.

Tanuki glared at the fox, "On the way there, I'll call in for an arrest warrant. I need an officer for the arrest and we'll need a police cruiser but we also need an officer to stay here with Kurt. I suppose they no longer teach that at the academy?"

Nick narrowed his eyes at Tanuki and crossed his arms, "Shouldn't you take the senior officer? Plus, the cruiser has been modified for Carrot's size. She should go with you."

"Listen here!" Tanuki began, his ears laid back, but Judy held up a paw and fished the car keys out of her pocket.

"It's fine, Nick. If Tanuki doesn't want me to come with him, then I don't want to go," she said sadly as she handed him her keys. She looked up at her partner and gave him an encouraging smile, "Go stop that son of a bitch for me. Ok?"

Nick accepted the keys reluctantly and turned out towards the car with the fluffy detective who was already on the phone for the warrant. Once at the car, Nick glanced at the modifications made to the Monster and it took him a few moments to figure out how to adjust the telescoping pedals and seat for his size. Luckily, he didn't have to make too many adjustments as his legs were almost as long as Judy's though his torso was much longer and he had to adjust the seat itself and every mirror in the car. Once adjusted sufficiently, Nick glanced up at the purple lily that was still hanging from the sun visor. He sighed, as the joy of finally getting behind the Monster's wheel was eclipsed by yet another feeling that he was betraying his partner. Tanuki was sitting in the passenger seat, Nick's seat, staring grumpily out the window as he waited for the call to connect. _Never let them see that they get to you._ Nick thought bitterly at he started the car and pulled away. Tanuki barely spoke to Nick on the way to the Mike Trapper's home, but rather just thrust his notebook at Nick for him to put the address into the car's GPS.

Being the city fox that he was, and a strong believer in public transportation, Nick was sorely out of practice when it came to driving. He had driven Finnick's van, but that was mostly when he was still just a kit and trying to get his driver's licence, and he had driven other vans for jobs which weren't too different from the monster in terms of size, but it had still been well over a year since he'd been behind the wheel and he wasn't used to the Monster's sensitive pedals. Nick threw both himself and Tanuki at nearly every jerky stop and even though it was accidental, he didn't mind in the slightest that the old racoon dog was getting angrier and angrier with each lurch.

"Sorry, pal. Fluff never let's me drive, so I'm not really accustomed to the controls. I guess you should have brought her after all, eh?" Nick pretended to apologize and look sheepish.

"I should have brought Lupe," Tanuki growled, "A large intimidating predator is better for making arrests, you were just second best choice."

Nick's ears perked up and he shot Tanuki a quick offended glare. "And here I thought the ZPD was making steps to eliminate speciesism."

"It has nothing to do with speciesism, at least not my speciesism," Tanuki explained as he tried to relax in his seat, "Everyone has preconceived notions about other mammals. When ascertaining a perpetrator and making arrests, intimidation is an important tool. It doesn't matter how talented your partner may be, or how much potential she may have, she will never be seen as a threat on the streets. Like it or not, she is going to be stuck trying to prove her worth to every culprit and civilian for the rest of her career. And, on an important case like this we don't have the time or luxury for a killer to think they can take out a cop. Mark my words, officer, one of these days, a neerdowell is going to think that a bunny cop is no threat, and her luck is going to run out. Don't get attached to her, she's a dead rabbit walking."

"I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you," Nick growled though he couldn't really argue back. He thought back to his first day on the force when they had arrived to the car accident and the large bull had belittled her. He knew Tanuki was right about her proving herself every day for the rest of her career and he suddenly felt scared for his partner. Nick's only real comfort was his faith in her unbunny-like stubbornness, quick wit and physical skill. It was true that one day she may come across a villain who may get the upperhand on her, but wasn't the same true for any other cop? And yet, how often would any mammal pick a fight with lion or a rhino, especially one with a badge?

The rest of the trip continued in silence, as Nick hemmed and hawed over his partner, until they arrived at the address given to them. Nick looked at the boarded up shop and the residential looking windows that sat above the broken storefront as he and Tanuki walked towards the back, looking for the entrance to the second floor apartment. After climbing up the dark and creaking stairs, Nick pulled out his sidearm and nodded to Tanuki, submitting to his authority and acknowledging his lead as Nick's training overtook any personal feelings he had for the racoon dog. Tanuki nodded back and gave the door a firm knock.

"Mike Trapper? This is the ZPD, open up," both mammals listened intently for any sounds of movement but heard none. "Mr. Trapper! Open the door or we will have to come in by force." Nick looked around the apartment's entrance, still hearing nothing, and nudged the detective, pointing to a cobweb that hung from the corner or the door. Tanuki looked up at the web before whispering, "I guess no one has been through in a while. Let's go in and check it out." Tanuki leaned back, making to break the door down but as he mentally prepared himself for the exertion, Nick's paw moved slowly to the handle and opened the door with a simple turn. Nick gave the embarrassed looking Tanuki a smug grin. Tanuki glared at Nick angrily at first, but his glare quickly turned to confusion as Nick doubled over and sank to his haunches. His paws shot to the tip of his muzzle as he suppressed a retch and his eyes watered before squeezing tightly.

"Dear Lord!" Tanuki exclaimed as the scent hit him and he quickly made his way halfway down the steps and away from the scent that oozed out of the door like a slime. "That's worse than being attacked by a skunk!"

 _This smell is going to be stuck in my fur for weeks!_ Nick thought bitterly. He wanted to make the complaint out loud, but he was terrified that if he opened his mouth or breathed in to speak, he would vomit all down the side of the building. He opened his eyes and he could feel his head swirl as the scent was making him physically ill. Quickly, he pulled a small red scarf from his pocket and held it tightly over his nose. The thin fabric did little to filter the scent, but the action of simply holding the comforting piece of cloth to his nose helped him keep his balance as he stood up and leaned against the wall.

"What's the matter old dog? Can't handle a little stink? Where's your professionalism?" Nick mocked. Tanuki glared up at the fox, his eyes were red from the stench but he raised himself up and stormed back up the steps and into the apartment. Nick followed close behind and put a paw up to Tanuki's back after he stopped and reeled. At his touch though, Tanuki shrugged off the fox and pressed further in until they had come to the source of the scent.

Just around the first corner, and almost unidentifiable corpse lie on the floor. The flesh was bloated like a balloon about to burst and all the fur had fallen from the creature. Flies and maggots crawled over what was once the mammals face, leaving teeth and bone exposed from where the pests had finished devouring the dead flesh. A pool of brown liquid oozed from the body and flies dipped in and out of the pool as if they were having a grand time at the beach.

Nick suddenly felt Tanuki's paw on his arm and he blinked several times, black, inky clouds obscured his vision. He quickly realised how close he had come to passing out and he grabbed the investigator's shoulder tightly, regaining his balance. Tanuki motioned for them to leave and Nick eagerly agreed. Outside Nick hungrily gulped down the fresh (or at least fresh by city standards) air.

He leaned against the wall, guarding the entrance from nothing, but following Tanuki's instructions as he went to call for the coroner over the radio in the cruiser. He couldn't get over how dizzy he was and how the dizziness wasn't passing him by. He closed his eyes as he fought another wave of nausea and tried his best to breath deeply and clear out his lungs. Feeling defeated, he finally allowed himself to sink down to the ground, his legs and paws were shaking. It was too soon when Tanuki returned, though he seemed just as reluctant as Nick to venture back up the stairs.

"Adams is helping Lupe and Hopps at the first scene, all three of them will come down when they are finished there," Tanuki sighed as he looked up the stairs. "We should probably go back up and open some windows."

"Be my guest," Nick gestured politely up the stairs as he carefully stood back up. Tanuki continued to stand staring up the steps reluctantly, his tiny ears folded back into his fur. Neither mammal moved but just stood in silence where the air was less toxic. When he could no longer take the silence anymore Nick finally asked the obvious question, "So, I guess that Trapper guy isn't out killer after all?"

"Unlikely, rather he seems to be among our killer's first victims," Tanuki sighed.

"So we're back to square one?"

"Not necessarily. This murder is very much connected to the others, but it is also very different. That first corpse wasn't bound but the other was definitely stabbed," Tanuki explained.

"What other corpse?" Nick asked, his ears perked and he couldn't believe that he had missed a second body.

"You need to get a thicker coat, rookie," Tanuki teased, "It was further in and the stomach wasn't bloated. Rather it was beginning the mummification process which, I'm guessing, means that the flies had better access to the torso."

"Gross," Nick blanched.

"Indeed. I have a feeling we are going to learn a lot from this scene. My guess is that our murderer was close to this couple. He killed them, developed the taste for killing and has been trying to recreate the feeling ever since. We won't know for certain until Adams performs his medical magic, though." Tanuki explained before he let out a long sigh and started up the stairs.

Nick took in a long breath before he flicked out his scarf and held it back up to his nose before following him up the stairs. When they were both up the stairs, both mammals moved quickly to the first set of windows they could find and opened them as wide as they could. A gentle cross breeze formed out the door and Nick and Tanuki both pressed their noses to the dusty screens for a breath of fresher air before moving about the apartment. Nick looked passed the first bloated body and could see the second one Tanuki had mentioned. This corpse was far different from the first, though just as disgusting. The brown hairless skin sunk close to the bones of the animal. The sharp, predatory teeth were exposed, though some had fallen out, as well as some of the skull around the eyes, presumably caused by feasting maggots. Holes in the sinking skin of the chest were visible and appeared in almost the same areas where the previous female victims had been stabbed, however these openings were much larger than the other murders, again, probably caused by maggots. Nick wondered how much information they could really get off the corpses and how much information was eaten away by the annoying bugs.

Nick steadied himself as the breeze was not carrying the smell away fast enough and he felt his stomach twist in knots. He moved closer to the first, bloated corpse and tried to examine it from a safe distance. The exposed and yellow teeth were the long, flat incisors of a beaver to be sure, but the species of the second victim eluded him. She, he could only guess it was a she based on the killer's pattern, was smaller than the beaver, and not just due to their decomposition levels. Her skeleton was long and lean, perhaps like an otter or a larger member of the weasel family. Tanuki had pulled out his camera once again was was taking pictures, and Nick moved to open more windows.

He looked about the shabby home, and spied some pictures on a far wall. Sure enough they depicted an older, male beaver with an older, female otter. Some, though not many, pictures showed a younger, male beaver with the victim in his younger years. Perhaps there was another, younger Trapper. Nick continued to follow the framed photos down the hall, but further exploration of the apartment revealed nothing more of interest to the fox.

"Hey Wilde, don't get too distracted. Go rope off the scene why don't you," Nick could hear Tanuki call to him.

"Sir, yes sir," he responded with little enthusiasm, happy for the excuse to get out of the apartment. When he got to the cruiser, rather than dutifully getting the crime tape and heading straight back up, he lingered for a moment, savoring the air. He pulled out his phone and debated texting Judy, he didn't want to bother her too much, knowing that the faster she finished, the sooner she would be there with him. Instead he settled for a simple warning, "Another crime scene, bring a gas mask. Major decomp." He flicked the screen back and forth a few times before sending a second message, "Wish you were here with me already." With a sigh he shoved the phone back into his pocket and returned to the putrid apartment, preparing himself for whatever hideous task Tanuki would have him do next.


	12. Caught on Candid Camera

"For the eighth time, Wilde, no you can't leave until Lupe gets here," Tanuki growled.

"Yeah, yeah. Procedures, and crime scenes, and contamination and blah, blah, blah," Nick grumbled as he sniffed his uniform disgustedly. They had been at the latest, or perhaps the oldest crime scene, for over an hour with no equipment to work with outside of some police tape and the cameras on their phones, however, once Tanuki was satisfied with the amount of photos that had been taken, there was nothing left to do other stand around. Procedure demanded that they stay until the scene had been fully examined and cleaned up before either one could leave, but the stench was so bad that, without a reason to stick around aside from protecting the scene, the two mammals ventured outside and began mulling about.

"I would give up my tail for a shower," Nick continued his incessant moaning causing the raccoon dog beside him to clench his fists and take in a deep breath before retreating back into the putrid apartment. Nick smiled to himself as he watched the investigator stomp up the stairs before he pulled out his phone.

 _That's right asshole, you go growl to yourself in the stinky apartment while I stay out here in the clean air and smash some little green piggies. Sucker. God, it took him long enough to get out of here._

Nick tapped away at his phone for a few minutes before his keen ears finally picked up the slamming of a car door near by him. "Oh finally," he mumbled to himself before shouting up the stairs, "Hey, Poof! I think our partners are here!" Nick put the phone back into his pocket and turned from the apartment's entrance and looked around the corner. His heart leapt in relief to see the familiar bunny, wolf and hyena walking towards him.

"Aw, Carrots! You sure are a sight for sore eyes! Come here darlin'," Nick practically ran towards his partner with his arms open for a hug. Before he reached her though, he could see her look of distrustful confusion before the wolf threw his paw over his nose and moved away from the officers.

"Sweet cheese and crackers, Nick! Why do you smell so bad?" she called as her senses caught the offending odor a few moments after the wolf.

"It was horrible, Fluff! Tanuki was mean to me and it was gross up there and now I smell all yucky and I just need a hug!" the fox whined as he quickened his pace to catch the bunny that was now quickly retreating him.

"Uh, uh! You stay away from me, you stinky fox! I will kick you so hard if you touch me!" Judy threatened as she dodged his hug and began running laps around the larger predators, much to their delight.

"But Hopsy! I just want a hug!" Nick could barely hide his laugh as he chased the doe back towards the street. She was too quick for him though, as she deftly escaped his grasping paws again and again.

"OFFICER WILDE! WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED!" Nick froze, barely recognizing Tanuki's roar. He turned slowly back towards the apartment. Lupe and Adams were struggling to contain their laughter and Judy had run back behind them for protection. Tanuki on the other had puffed his fur out in rage making himself look even bigger and rounder than before causing the smile on Nick's face to melt into an annoyed scowl.

"There is work to be done, or did you forget that you are on the job?" Tanuki scolded Nick who sulked back towards the apartment.

"I told you he was being mean," Nick grumbled to his partner as he passed by her.

"Listen Lupe, our new suspect is dead, has been for a while. Why don't you and Officer Hopps go look into these victims' families. The corpses look older than any of the other victims, so there might be a connection to the killer there. Adams and I can handle this scene, just leave us the kit." Tanuki advised in an aggravated tone.

"Well," Lupe started before turning to give the hyena next to him a good smack on the back, "Have fun in there ole buddy. Wish I could help you out, but orders are orders."

"You have seniority, you idiot." Adams grumbled with a smirk.

"I'm sorry what was that? Boy, these ears aren't as good as they used to be. See you guys later! Come along Ms. Hopps, let's take your vehicle," Lupe turned and waved good bye with a smile. Once outside of earshot, Lupe leaned over and whispered into the bunny's ears, "Boy, we sure dodged a bullet there didn't we."

Judy looked back over her shoulder at her partner who gave her a dejected little wave that almost made her regret not giving him that hug. Almost.

Judy was thankful that Lupe hadn't insisted on driving her cruiser and was slightly surprised at how little she had to adjust the seat and pedals since Nick had driven it. Lupe's reasoning for not insisting on driving was quickly clear as he swung the cruiser's laptop towards himself and began typing away while pulling out his phone. Judy waited patiently in silence as Lupe flicked back and forth between his phone and the computer before he finally gave her an address to go towards.

"So what exactly are we doing?" she asked as she pulled the cruiser onto the street.

"Hiro kept me up to date with what he found in the apartment while we were at the other scene. I looked into city records, found the vic, Mike Trapper, has been married and divorced, and has one child through the previous marriage. Both the ex wife and son live in the same place, that's where we are going. They are most likely to know if anyone wanted them dead. If they really were the first victims, chances are highest here that the killer knew them personally," Lupe explained. "When we get to the house, you just let me do the talking, ok?"

"Wait, so we're actually going to question someone?" Judy asked, her ears perked up in excitement.

"Careful there officer, we are questioning possible character witnesses, not suspects. We aren't going in accusing anyone of anything."

"Er, right. I know," Judy replied, though her heart still thrummed in excitement. She hadn't been able to do any real detective work since the night howler case over a year ago, which had made all the petty thefts and traffic violations since then seem insignificant. She took a deep breath to calm herself, though she had to continue to repress eager twitches of anticipation as she drove.

The house she had pulled up to wasn't even 15 minutes away, in a different part of Happy Town. The bushes in front of the place had grown high enough that it almost hid the fact that shudders were falling off and the windows were covered in a thick layer of grime. Several newspapers, broken lawn furniture and a beat up old bike decorated the overgrown patch of lawn. Lupe lead the way and Judy held her paw up to catch him when he nearly fell as the cinderblock that stood as the step to the porch wiggled under his paws. After he had recovered from the wobbly step and knocked on the front door, Judy had to hold her breath as she glared at the open garbage pails that stood, waiting for pick up day, which based on the smell, must have been soon.

Lupe knocked again before he heard a response coming from inside, "Hold on, damn it. I heard ya," Judy could barely make out the rest of what the female inside was grumbling though she knew it had something to do with interrupting her programs. The bunny nearly jumped when the door was violently ripped open by an angry looking beaver in a faded floral moo moo holding a gnawed on wooden spoon. "Well?" she demanded.

"Florence Trapper I presume? My name is Kurt Lupe, this is my associate Officer Hopps, I was wondering if we could come in and talk to you about your ex husband, Mike Trapper."

The beaver glared at Lupe for a moment before she motioned them in and began chewing on the spoon again. Lupe and Hopps followed the beaver into her living room which was littered with scraps of paper, bits of laundry and dirty dishes. She plopped herself down on a worn recliner in front of a small TV before she spoke again, "Well? What has that pervert gotten himself into? Figures I don't hear from him in years and now I've gotta talk about him to a bunch of cops. Whatever he's done I had no part of it, ya hear?"

"Actually, ma'am. I regret to inform you that we've only just recently discovered that he had passed away a few weeks ago, perhaps over a month ago. Were you aware of this?" Lupe asked as delicately as he could.

"Passed? What's that mean? Did he die? If he died, just say he kicked the damn bucket why don't you?" she asked without looking away from her soap operas. " I guess that explains why the alimony check hasn't come in yet this month. Hey Hank!" she yelled suddenly, pulling the spoon from her mouth, "You hear that! You're getting your inheritance! Don't forget your poor old mother, ya hear?" Florence shifted her weight in her chair before she looked back up at officers, "That's what you're here for right? You come to give my boy his money, yeah?"

"Uh, no ma'am. That would be a matter for lawyers," Lupe asked, his ears flicked back in annoyance, "We're here hoping for information in regards to how he died. We believe he was attacked in his home. You wouldn't happen to know if there is anyone who would want to cause him any pain, do you?" Judy's ears twitched as she heard a creak coming from behind her. When she turned around she saw the face of a young beaver male, late teens, maybe early twenties standing in the shadow of a hallway. She and the beaver locked eyes for only a moment before he cast his eyes downward and looked back towards his own tail in shyness.

The beaver woman let out a course laugh, "Do I know who would want to cause him pain? Sure, I would! That disgusting bastard left me and my boy over ten years ago, and do you want to know why? He left us for some otter bitch! Have you ever heard of anything so disgusting and unnatural in all your life? A beaver and an otter! Good riddance I say! I hope that fucker burns in hell for all the pain he's caused us and all the sin he's committed. I'm only grateful that this means I don't have to worry about my poor boy finding out he's got a half bred abomination for a brother someday."

"I see," nodded Lupe, "and when was the last time you've spoken with Mike?"

"I've no desire to speak to that monster, and to answer your real question, no I wasn't the one to kill him. I can barely move about my own home thanks to this damn diabetes making it painful to walk and stand, you think I could kill anyone? I haven't even been able to hold a job in seven years! Thankfully my dear boy has been able to step up and care for his ailing mamma. Come in here Hank." At her beck, the young beaver waddled out of the shaded hall, past Hopps and Lupe, to his mother's side. "Hanky here has really stepped up as the man of the house, learning a trade and doing all he can without his worthless father around."

"That's wonderful that you've been able to do that," Lupe smiled at the young beaver encouragingly. "When was the last time you spoke to your father, son?"

Hank opened his mouth to speak but his mother beat him to the punch, "Oh, Mike made it very clear that he wants nothing to do with either of us. He didn't even show up to Mike's high school graduation. The bastard." Hank's eyes awkwardly darted between Judy and the floor as his mother spoke, his fingers tangled and untangled themselves as his mother spoke.

"It, uh, it's been a few years, sir," Hank confirmed.

"Your mother says you support the household, is that correct? I take it you have a good job that can do that?" Lupe asked, his concern seemed to be for the young beaver now, rather than the case.

"Yes, yes, sir. I, uh, I work for a pl-plumber, well that it, I-I am a plumber," Hank nodded quickly as he spoke.

"Oh, that's good. Your mom says you were getting alimony checks from your late father. Will you two be ok without that money coming in?" Hank nodded quickly to Lupe's question.

"Oh yeah, my boy is doing a fine job!" Florence announced proudly, "Between the four of us, we haven't needed those alimony checks for some time now, but I wasn't about to give them up! Any way to stick it to that sicko!" The older beaver laughed as she watched her soaps turn to news and her son gave a shy smile in agreeance.

"Well that's good. Say, friend, what plumbing company do you work for exactly?" Lupe mimicked their smiles.

Hank seemed more relaxed now that he was part of the conversation and once again he made to answer Lupe's question before his mother began shouting, "Wait a minute! Wait one goddamn minute!" She twisted violently in her chair and gave Judy a long hard stare before turning back to the TV and then back to Judy, "Is that you? Are you one of those vile perverts?"

Judy gave the beaver a confused glare before she turned to look at the TV where her face glowed, half buried in the orange cheek of her partner, and her arms were wrapped around his shoulders.

"...the ZPD however, doesn't seem too concerned about the Lovebird Killer's attacks as two officers, seen here, share a moment of blatant PDA for our cameras!"

"Honestly, I don't know if this was some kind of ploy or if these two officers are really this unprofessional, but to pull a stunt like this, right outside of the victims' homes. It is just disrespectful!"

Judy didn't know what was worse, having her moment of excitement broadcast for the entire city, hearing the disgusted news anchor's comments or the dirty looks she was now receiving from both the beavers and the wolf in the room. Her ears drooped back and her heart sank as she took a step back and shrank from the TV. She could feel the blood and heat rush to her face and ears as all sense of professionalism was replaced by pure embarrassment. She tried to think of something to say to save herself, to explain that the kiss was more out of excitement than her attachment to her partner, but this time it was her turn to be interrupted by the infuriated she-beaver.

"Disgusting, amoral, pervert!" She screamed at Judy causing the bunny to jump, "How dare you enter my home you vile, sinful, bitch! Get out! Out of my home! We don't consort with your type here!" Judy stood frozen, her ears perked and alert as she took in every hateful word the beaver threw at her, unsure of what to do.

"It's ok Judy, just head to the car, I'll meet you in a moment," Lupe said gently as he tried to regain control over the situation.

"Ok? Ok?! This is anything but 'ok!' I want you both out of my home right now!" she screamed as Lupe ushered the mortified bunny out of the house. She resisted only for a moment before she realized that explaining what had happened would be pointless and she allowed the wolf to guide her back to the cruiser.

"Get in and drive us out of sight. Anywhere out of sight," Lupe commanded as they entered the car. Judy nodded before she turned over the engine and pulled the vehicle out into the road. "Listen to me Hopps, I've dealt with bad press before. Let me help take care of this. Find the nearest parking lot and pull into it. I'll deal with the most immediate concern, making sure you and your partner still have a job tomorrow." Judy let out a small tearful gasp, though she managed to keep her composure as she hunted the streets for the nearest shopping plaza or convenience store. Meanwhile, she could hear Lupe pull out his phone and quickly make a phone call.

"Yes, this is Lupe, connect me to Chief Bogo, asap!" Lupe spoke into his phone and paused only briefly as his call connected, "Hey, Larry, it's Kurt. Have you seen the afternoon news? No? Well, you won't like it, but I figured you needed to hear this from the real source rather than those sensationalists. Yeah, it has to do with your officers. Right now? Hopps is with me, Wilde is with Hiro at a crime scene, they don't know about this yet." Judy groaned as she pulled into a cracked and broken lot. She buried her face in the steering wheel as she placed the car in park and felt like dying with each word that came from Lupe. "Well, first I just want to say that Ms. Judy Hopps is one of the best officers I've had the privilege to work with. She's got a lot of potential as both a cop and an investigator. I dare say she's working her way on to the short list of my potential replacements when I retire." Judy cringed, taking the hefty compliment as a build up for how much more crushing her termination was going to be.

"Well, yes, I'm getting to the 'but." You see, she happened to find a key piece of evidence, one that I think is going to be pivotal to catching this killer, but in finding it, she may have gotten a little over excited. Now, I'll tell you, she has already been verbally reprimanded by Hiro, and you know he holds nothing back. Yes, that's right. What she did? Well, we all know how emotional bunnies can be." Lupe glanced over at Judy with an apologetic cringe as she shot him a betrayed glare. "She got overly excited and gave her partner a small kiss on that cheek and before you get upset -" Lupe moved the phone from his sensitive canine ears and Judy could clearly hear Bogo screaming through the phone. She threw her paws in the air and tried to calculate how long she would be writing parking tickets, assuming the Chief didn't flat out fire her.

"Now, Lawrence, don't forget about your blood pressure! It's not nearly as bad as the reporters made it out to be, plus it was an afternoon broadcast and how many mammals actually watch the afternoon show? Yes? Yes. Ok, I understand. Ok, bye."

Lupe let out a hefty sigh as he ended his phone call. Judy glanced over at the wolf, peeking between her small fingers, awaiting the Chief's verdict. Lupe glanced back at the bunny in silence for a moment before he collected himself.

"He said he is going to see how bad the sensationalism comes out to be before he determines his next course of action," Lupe explained carefully, "but, uh, he did say that you should consider yourself lucky if you end up with an entire year's worth of parking duty. So…"

Judy groaned as she slammed her head into the steering wheel several times, causing the cruiser to let out a small pathetic honk each time.

"Alright, that's enough of that. Chances are, you aren't getting fired," Lupe tried to console the bunny. He reached out and rubbed her back gently, "Take this as a life lesson, it's better to fess up to something before someone else does it for you. Can you imagine how mad he would be if he found out about that newscast on his own, or worse, if someone from city hall called up to complain?"

Judy just glared at the wolf, "But I didn't fess up to anything, you did it for me!"

"Yes, and you're welcome for that," Lupe answered awkwardly, "Now, pull yourself together while I inform Hiro. He's not going to like this any better but at least I can pull seniority and hang up on him when he gets too loud. While I'm on the phone, I want you thinking about everything that happened at that interview before that newscast came on."

Judy nodded as she tried to tune out Lupe's phone conversation and think about the interview like he told her to. The first thing that came to her mind was the disgusted and enraged faces of the beaver family after her own face had appeared on the television. Even Hank, who had seemed so shy had glared at her with a sudden, cold, hatred that had struck her to the core. He stuck in her mind as she replayed the afternoon in reverse. The way he had flicked his eyes between herself and the floor. He was shy, certainly, but there was something more to it. She was accustomed to strange looks being a bunny cop, but she could tell it wasn't her species that had attracted his attention. She had seen those kind of looks more often when she was out of uniform and around other rabbits. It was the sort of look a male gave when he wasn't comfortable around females, especially ones they found attractive. But, that didn't make sense. He wouldn't being giving her the shy but attracted glances if he were so dead set against inter species relationships like his mother was. And, based off his last hateful glare he had given her, he must have been against them. There was something she was missing, something important. She really didn't know what it could be. The glances had been very awkward, the kind of awkward that made a girl wonder if she should take caution, or if she was just being judgmental.

She needed more than a doe's intuition though. Maybe she was being judgmental, despite her best efforts. What was said? What could she use? He did say he hadn't spoken to his father in years, but that could have been a lie. What else did she know about him? Didn't he say he was a plumber? That would grant him access to people's houses. It could also work as a false alibi, to say he was at one home doing work, when he was really at another home, doing horrible things to otherwise innocent mammals.

The more she thought about it, the more the theory seemed to work, however she was still missing many pieces. Just because he had the motivation and access, didn't mean he was the murderer. She would need an eye witness or a murder weapon. The suspicion could be enough for a search warrant, but not an arrest.

The paw print! If they could get a court order for Hank's paw prints, it would determine if he was at the crime scenes, or at least one of them. There was little doubt that the killer was a beaver, and Hank certainly had a connection to the latest scene.

The more Judy pondered over all the evidence, the more sure she was at the young beaver's guilt. If only she had the weapons. She waited as patiently as she could as Lupe finished his phone conversation before she relayed all her thoughts and theories on him. He nodded silently, agreeing with everything she had thought.

"Alright, drive us back to the others, I'll work on getting the arrest and search warrants around. Good work," Lupe said as he rubbed his head. "You still have a long way to go, but I meant what I said when I told Bogo that you are finding your way to the short list of officers I would like to replace me when I retire."

Judy beamed from the praise, her embarrassment nearly melted away from earlier. "When do you plan on retiring if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, not for another 3 years, at least. Maybe 5," Lupe sighed as he leaned back in the seat. "That's plenty of time to get out of this rookie cop stage and grow professionally."

Judy spent the rest of the car ride back to the other investigators in a daydream. She imagined herself in a designer quality button up blouse and black slacks while she wore the investigator's badge around her neck like the females in the crime dramas on TV. When she did pull back into the crime scene, Lupe was already on hold with the district attorney's office.

"Go fill in Tanuki, I'm going to be here a while," Lupe directed with one paw over the mouthpiece of his phone. Judy nodded and made her way towards the back of the building and up the stairs to a revolting stench. She held her paws over her nose and saw Wilde, Tanuki and Adams all standing around a bloated, decaying corpse, trying to figure out the best way to transport it to the morgue.

"Totes! Oh my God! Just let me leave to go buy the biggest fucking plastic tote I can find! We'll put him in the body bag and then put the body bag in the goddamn tote so he doesn't fucking drip all over the goddamn place! Why are you smart people so fucking dumb! Fuck the procedure if we can't do our fucking jobs, am I right?"

Judy had apparently walked in at just the right time to watch her partner have a complete mental breakdown as he tugged his ears down past his jaw. He froze when he saw his partner enter the apartment, still yanking at his ears, which looked rather painful.

"There look! A cop is here! Good ole Officer Toot-toot is here to save my friggen life!" Nick yelled out as he motioned to the bunny. "Please! Please! I don't care how bad I stink, I need a break from you two! Just let me run to the store, I will be back in 10 minutes I promise."

"A plastic tote would make it easier to transport the vic," Adams agreed and before either of them could say another word, Nick was scrambling around the corpse and practically running towards the door. As he did he grabbed Judy by the paw, gave it a kiss and a squeeze without slowing, resulting in her being pulled and twisted like an awkward dancer as he raced past her with a quick, "Thank you so much, Carrots, I need to get out of here! Love you, bye!"

Judy let out a small giggle before she gave the older investigators a questioning glare.

"He really needs to learn to control his emotions," Adams sighed as he shook his head before turning to Tanuki, "You know, I don't think he likes you very much."

"Me? You're the one who always has to tell the story about the corpse that exploded in your lab. Its disgusting!" Tanuki shot back, sounding a little offended.

"What? It's not disgusting! It was fascinating! Officer Hopps, did I ever tell you about the time the cooling systems backfired in the morgue," Adams asked excitedly.

"No, but I think I can guess what happened," Judy said with an awkward giggle.

"Ah, of course! See, she understands, she's laughing," Adams said to Tanuki and he waved towards Judy.

"You two realize he is still a rookie, right? It wouldn't hurt for you guys to go easy on him, would it?" she asked.

"How's the poor fellow gonna learn?" the large hyena asked.

Judy laughed harder than she probably should have at her partner's expense. The swarm of emotions and excitement that had plagued her all day was finally taking it's toll on her energy levels and exhaustion was leaving her with need to laugh or cry. Luckily the situation lent itself to the former as she tried to compose herself before catching the investigator and coroner up on the status of the investigation.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the short hiatus guys. Christmas obligations took up a bunch of time and I was working on a big group picture for some folks over at DeviantArt. Don't forget to look me up over there (same username as here) to see my drawings and to chat. Bad Decisions will resume it's normal-ish updates soon!**


	13. Princess Judy

"I don't know Nick, I think I ought to just go home and catch up on some sleep. The past 24 hours have been exhausting."

"All the more reason you should let me pamper you. I thought you wanted to be treated like a princess?"

Judy glared at the fox, perfectly aware of the agreement she had made last night. " _If you want to get into my pants, you better make me feel like a princess,"_ were more or less her exact words after he had drunkenly confessed his love for her.

"Just because you get me flowers and take me to a spa, do NOT expect me to jump into your bed tonight. I mean it, Nick, I am tired and not at all in the mood to be seduced." It was bad enough, she thought, that she had been publicly humiliated on national television, but Lupe had decided to send a different set of officers to take Hank and his mother in for questioning and yet another set of officers to help search their home. Meanwhile, she and her partner returned to the precinct only for her to get chewed out in typical Bogo style.

"I'm offended that you think the only reason I want to do something nice for you is because I want to sleep with you," Nick gave Judy a hurt expression that made her feel a bit guilty before he added indignantly, "I'm also doing it because I've wanted to go to this place for a long time but I didn't want to go alone and mammals would think I was gay if I asked one of my guy friends to go with me."

Judy rolled her eyes as he gave her a sly smirk and a wink. She had to admit that she was curious about going to a fancy Zootopian wellness spa and it certainly seemed like a better option than going home and sulking till she fell asleep.

"Besides, you have a nice long weekend to catch up on your beauty rest. Infact, I want you to be super rested tomorrow because I plan on taking you out again after I get off duty," Nick insisted which only caused her to squirm and shrink in embarrassment. Nick had been found guiltless of any crimes after Bogo had reviewed the news report and was spared from the large mammal's wrath, but Judy on the other hand was handed a two day suspension. Honestly, it was a slap on the wrist compared to what could have happened and far less than she was expecting, but it killed her to not know what was happening with the Lovebird Killer case more than anything else.

Nick must have sensed her mood sour because she was shocked out of her thoughts when his dark paw reached around her shoulder, knocking her off balance as he pulled her closer to himself as they walked towards their destination. He smiled warmly down at her and she let out a sigh and accepted his warm embrace. She reached one paw up to the paw on her shoulder and she could feel her heart flutter inside of her. She wasn't sure if it was fair to call it denial, but she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she and Nick were now a couple. This fact began to solidify as his fingers wiggled to interlace with hers and he squeezed her tighter. Her chest swelled and her worries of the day began to melt before they were even within sight of the spa.

The entire walk, she never let go of his paw, even when he held the door open for her, in an exaggeratedly gentleman style when they arrived to the spa. The spa looked almost exactly like she had expected it to, the walls and decor were a clean and fresh palette of pale green and white with bamboo scattered about the reception area in small decorative pots. Calming music drifted gently from behind the reception area where an sleek brown bear sat clicking away at a computer as a screen behind her flashed serene images of beaches and forests. Tucked off in a corner another bear sat behind a flashier counter surrounded by pictures of fruits and a chalk board displaying a menu of different teas and smoothie options.

"Welcome to Lugna. How may I help you?" the bear asked in a slight northern accent.

"Hey, we both just had a really rough, really messy day, and not in the fun way. What do you have available right away?" Nick asked.

The bear gave a small sniff and her face scrunched up slightly before she could regain her composure. Judy wondered if she could still smell the rot and decay from earlier in the day, despite the showers they had taken at the ZPD locker rooms. She gave her shirt a whiff but could smell nothing, although she had heard that bears did have one of the best senses of smell in mammalian world, even better than canines.

"Well, I can start you off with our signature wild honey and apricot exfoliating couple's treatment. It hydrates your skin and will leave you feeling and smelling wonderful." She suggested with a friendly nod. Nick smirked, he had told Judy earlier that there was no way the showers at the ZPD locker rooms would be able to get all the stink out of their fur. She didn't believe him at first, but had to concede to his accurate assumption after Bogo had let them leave early for the day to wash the stink away.

"That sounds lovely, anything else you want, dear?" Nick asked the bunny under his arm. Judy thought he was laying the charm on a little thick and being the farm girl at heart that she was, she didn't see much value in paying other mammals to wash her fur or paint her claws for her. She shook her head shyly and Nick gave a shrug before he pulled his wallet out to pay for the treatment. She gave his shirt a panicked tug after the bear informed them of the price, but he only smiled back at her and paid for the treatment.

"Nick! $200? That's way too much!" she whispered after his card was returned to him, but once again he just smiled as if to say, "don't worry about it," but instead he simply asked what she wanted to drink from the juice bar. "Nick, no! This is too much! We could just as easily go take another shower at home."

"Please, Fluff, let me pamper you a little. I want to do this," Nick insisted. "Now, what would you like to drink? This one looks right up my ally with almond milk and blueberries. Oh, you should get this, the 'Rejuvenator' with pineapple, cucumber and mint. Shame there is nothing with carrots."

"Nick! What? That's eight bucks for one drink!"

"A bargain I'm sure. One Rejuvenator and one Blue Nut smoothie please," he asked the bear at the juice bar. She nodded before collecting all the ingredients from the fridge hidden under the bar.

After placing the order, Nick turned to Judy and placed both paws on her shoulders. He looked her square in the eyes and pleaded with her, "Listen, Carrots, you're right. All this is pricey and perhaps unnecessary, but that's why it's called pampering. It is a treat. The last few days, heck the last few weeks, have been very stressful, but when you come back to work, that killer that we've been working so hard to catch will be behind bars. Plus, I was finally able to tell you how I really feel about you, albeit I'm still slightly embarrassed over how it all came out. The way I see things, we deserve a treat, so please, try to relax and enjoy this."

She sighed and nodded when she was passed a strange green beverage. She wrinkled her nose at it but when she took that first sip it was like someone had taken the word "fresh" and turned it into a drink. The pineapples and mint left small bits that created a strange texture, but the overall flavor alone was enough to see why they named the drink "Rejuvenator." She melted as she took another long sip of her drink. That was when two opossums arrived, one male and one female, from somewhere deeper in the spa area looking for Nick and Judy both. The small rabbit grew nervous as she and Nick were lead down to a warm room with a bubbling tub and told to strip.

"St-strip?"

"That's right dear. Preferably down to nothing, but if you want to keep your panties on or if you brought bathing suits that's fine too," one of the opossums replied.

Judy blushed as she glared at Nick who was sheepishly scratching the back of his head and avoiding her eye contact as the opossums left to give them some privacy.

"NICK!"

"N-now don't get too mad Carrots!" Nick pleaded, "I mean we've both seen each other in our underwear before, and it's not much different from a swimsuit right? I-it's fine. We'll sit around in our skivvies, get nice creams and soaps massaged into our fur and relax in this hot tub. That sounds nice right?"

Judy continued to glare at her partner before she finally relented with a heavy sigh, "Fine. At least it's not as bad as that naturalist club."

He was right about how they had both seen each other almost naked so she didn't even bother to turn around when she pulled the ZPD t shirt up over her head, much to the foxes obvious excitement. She could see his tail swish from side to side a few times before he turned his back to her to take off his own shirt.

A simply villainous spark emerged in the tiny bunny's brain, remembering that she just happened to be wearing some of her better panties, bright pink, low cut and with a touch of lace. She cleared her throat and turned her own back towards him before slipping her pants down below her hips. As they fell past her knees she made sure to bend over at the hips so Nick could get an optimal view of her backside, assuming that sneaky fox was stealing peeks of her.

She held her small tail as high as she could and forced her ears to stay forward though she could clearly hear his movement behind her. When she was bent over and pulling her pants away from her ankles, he had gone completely silent. No rustling of clothes being removed or paws shuffling against the floor, she only heard the running of the water in the nearby tub and the escalating thump of a quickening heart beat. Quickly, she looked behind her and caught the red furred scoundrel staring over his shoulder at her.

"Nicholas!" she cried out in mock surprise,causing him to jump out of his apparent stupor and turn away from her. "Were you peeking at me?"

"I would never be so crass," he insisted, "Although, who could blame me if I was. What with having such a beautiful specimen of the rabbit variety." His tune turned more indignant as he made a few more quick glances towards the mostly nude doe who now stood facing him with one paw placed on her jutting hip.

"Why Nick, you seem almost embarrassed. I don't understand why though. I mean, you said it yourself, we've seen each other in our underwear before and it's not much different than a swimsuit," she teased as she drew closer to the fox. "Don't tell me that the worldly, streetwise, Nicholas P. Wilde can be flustered by something so innocent as a pair of undies and a bra?"

"Haha, we both know it's not the bra and panties, but what's in them. I thought you weren't in the mood to be seduced?" he accused.

"Oh I'm not, but you can't tell me you didn't see this coming, this whole 'strip' thing. Don't act so innocent, this was probably part of your plan from the beginning. So, if I can have just a bit of revenge by making you squirm, instead of myself, then I will be a much happier bunny. I can hide any arousal I might feel with the fancy, scented soaps. How are you going to hide yours?" she asked gesturing towards the bulge that had formed below his belly.

Nick cleared his throat before he adjusted his waistline, "Be careful Carrots, no one likes a tease."

"Nuh uh! You set up this game, you just didn't count on me playing it better than you! Once again, the dumb bunny out hustles the sneaky fox," she laughed.

"Is that what you think?" he challenged and quickly, he peeled off his own shirt. Judy could feel her face flush. His thin summer fur left nothing to the imagination as she could clearly see the traces of the thin cords of muscle twist down his arms and torso. He kicked off his pants and leaned back slightly, showing off his physique to the little bunny. Had he always been this buff?

"It's OK to be amazed," he said with no small amount of attitude, "I believe the term you're looking for is, 'foxy.'"

She smiled as she rolled her eyes. _I guess I'm going to have to step up my game,_ She thought.

Her opportunity to return the challenge arrived as the opossums returned. They were professional and efficient as they explained and massaged in various scrubs and soaps and creams. With every new product that was massaged into her relaxing muscles, Judy let her appreciation be known through modest moans. She couldn't lay it on too thick, so as to create a awkward situation with the opossums, but at the same time, she wanted to tease her companion with her pleasured sounds. She could catch his eyes travel to her and she allowed her face to relax as the opossums worked the creams deep into her flesh. The little opossum managed to hit a knot of tight muscles and gently massaged them loose which caused Judy to let out a pleasured gasp that was anything but fake, but afterwards, she took the opportunity to flash her partner her very best bedroom eyes.

Nick tried to play it cool, he knew damn well what she was doing and it annoyed him at how effective it was working. He did his best to endure and bide his time. Soon his turn to retaliate came after the opossums left them to soak in the warm tub. He watched her slowly sink into the tub before joining her, however when he did, he instantly moved to the smaller female and pressed his paws into the sides of the tub on either side of her. He leaned in close and let out an aroused huff. He looked deep into her eyes before they moved down to her flushed cheeks and parted lips then further to her chest that rose and fell with excited breaths.

Nick blinked, trying to bring his mind back from what his body was demanding he do next. "Hey, what was with all that moaning earlier? Are you trying to get me in trouble?" He demanded, though his voice was low and sensual and teasing.

"What? That? I was just enjoying the massage. You were right, I feel so clean and relaxed now," she teased, tipping her head back and stretching her arms over her head. "Why? Was I bothering you somehow?"

"Hmm, sly bunny," he purred as he leaned in towards her. Warnings and red flags fired off in Judy's head.

 _He's not your species._

 _He's a predator._

 _He's so immature._

 _This is barely even a first date._

 _You can't be doing this, not here._

All these voices in her head were promptly ignored as their muzzles pressed tightly into each other. She reached her arms up and around his shoulders and could feel them relax. His lips parted slightly and she followed suit and the tips of their tongues grazed each other's before she felt his retract like a skittish creature returning to its hiding place. Undisturbed, she followed after him. Her tongue grazed against his small, sharp incisors and she felt a wave of excitement course through her. She pulled him down closer to her, deepening the kiss and she was surprised at the overwhelming size of his mouth and tongue. It was nothing like kissing another bunny and the little bit of conscious thought that wasn't completely engrossed by the kiss wondered what else was big on him and her body tingled and reacted to the thought.

As if one cue, one of Nick's paw slipped to the back of Judy's head as they continued their kiss, while the other slid down below the water to her waist. She let out a stuttered breath and the concerned fox pulled back to check on his partner. This was unnecessary, he soon discovered, as Judy grasped at the scruff of his neck and pulled her whole body up to press into his. His paw that was under the water quickly slid down to cup her bottom and he pressed his pelvis forward between her legs.

"Nick!" she gasped, feeling his bulge press through his and her undies and against her own pelvis. "We, we can't! Not here. It's a public place. I can't get into anymore trouble."

He let out a small curse and sighed before they released the physical pressure that was building between them. Judy tried to console the fox by leaving a trail of kisses along his jaw and he responded in kind by kissing the top of her head before sinking below the bubbling surface of the water. She could see him rubbing his face just below the water for a few moments before he popped back up.

"I should get a hot tub one of these days," he said with a small huff after he finally resurfaced. Judy just laughed at his nonchalant attitude and began splashing herself to get the soap out of her fur.

After a long bit of relaxing on opposite ends of the tub the two mammals finally decided to call it a night. As they dried off, Judy turned to Nick, ears laid back and said, "Thanks Nick. I didn't realize it, but I think I really needed this."

He turned and stared as the somber bunny before he gave her a sweet smile, "I knew you did. I can't let the super cop burn herself out. Now, let's go home and get the Super Bunny to bed. I meant it when I said I want you rested tomorrow! I've got something big planned for you!"

She reached out her silver paw for his and gave him a big smile, "I can't wait."

* * *

 **Author's Note: JIC I triggered anyone with Nick's comment on looking "gay." My thought process was that yes, Nick would be concerned with looking "gay" to others. Remember, he spent his whole life fitting into society's view of what it means to be a fox, rather than being himself. Naturally he would be concerned with fitting into society's view of what it means to be a "man" or tod as well. It takes some time to change a life's worth of societal programming. He's working on it. ;)**


	14. VIM: Very Important Mammal & Bonus CH

**Author's note: Explicit material below the second horizontal line. Feel free to skip it if it's not your thing, it's just a some bonus material for fun.**

* * *

"Wha-what do you mean they let him go?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Fluff. His alibis checked out and they couldn't find any murder weapons," Nick shrugged as he exited the taxi cab. He held a hand out to his smaller date in a most gentlemanly fashion to help her out of the vehicle.

"Ugh! Of course his alibis checked out! He was probably killing animals in between assignments. He was almost literally getting paid to kill!" Judy responded as she slid out of the car. She was grateful Nick was holding his paw out to her. She didn't often wear heels, assuming she was wearing shoes at all, but she decided that because he had put some effort into planning out this date, she should put some effort into looking nice. Her effort had paid off when a speechless, gaping fox had stood outside her apartment door instead of the usual cocky Nick Wilde. Even if they were difficult to walk in, she couldn't deny that the strappy black heels that criss-crossed up her calves, combined with her clingy tight skirt, made her legs and backside look fantastic and made her feel incredibly sexy. He wasn't looking too bad himself with his matching blazer and slacks and crisp button up shirt. It was a marked improvement from his usual pawaiian shirt and patterned tie combos.

"We'll figure something out. Who ever this 'Lovebird Killer' is, he can't keep killing forever. Honestly though, I'd really rather not talk about work. I'd rather take you dancing and see what happens if I get you drunk," Judy gave the lewd fax a shove before she let out a long huff and looked up and down the street where they were let off. She saw a long line coming out of a fancy looking club and she could hear the bass thumping out from three buildings down. They walked towards the club but before they reached the line, Nick grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her down a long dark alleyway.

"Nick, what are-" she began to ask before he cut her off with a finger to the tip of his muzzle.

"Let me handle this, Carrots. We're not waiting in any lines. I know where the VIM entrance is," he replied with a wink. "Just let me do the talking." He continued to lead her around the back of the building where a tall polar bear was standing guard under a single outdoor lamp.

"Randal! Is that you? Hey man, how's it going?" Nick called to the bear after throwing his arm around Judy's slim shoulders. "Man, some line out there, am I right? You don't think you could hook an old pal up, right? I'm taking my girl here out, and I'd like to impress her if you catch my drift."

The polar bear, Randal, rolled his eyes at the cheesy scheming fox before he let out a long huff, "Seriously, Wilde? Do you really expect me to let you in here after what happened last time?"

"Hey, I did not start that brawl," Nick insistent, "besides, it's not my fault that beaver kid is every bit a bratty douche bag as the tabloids make him out to be. Come one man? For old times sake?" With those last words, Nick gave his shoulders a playful little shake and flashed the bear his most innocent eyes that would make even the cutest puppy look suspicious by comparison. The bear looked down at the fox but just glared.

"Hey, Carrots, did I ever tell you the story about how me and this big fella were hunting all over tundra town for your gal pal Fru Fru? Boy she was a handful as a teen, wasn't she, Randy?" Nick acted as if he were making simple small talk, but Judy could see the big bear squirm and his glare at the fox intensified. "See, Randy here was in charge of keeping little Miss Big safe and all that jazz when she was a kid. Well, you know how teens go through these rebellious phases and Fru Fru was no different. She had a tendency to slip away and it was a hoot to watch these giant bears try to chase down this teeny little vole. Well, one day they decided that they needed someone a bit smaller to go after her. That's where I come into the story. Well, this one particular time I was sniffing the little heiress out and-"

"You know what!" Randy suddenly interrupted Nick and, much to the fox's delight, opened the back door of the club, "You two feel free to head inside. Just don't cause any trouble, please Nick?"

"Aw, you're too good to me Randy! And don't worry, Wilde's just a name. It doesn't actually mean anything," he said with a wink before ushering Judy into the building.

"I can't believe you just did that," she scolded with a laugh.

"Yeah, me either! No line, no cover charge. I still got it," he said with a laugh as they walked down a thin hallway and came out to a crowded club. Lasers, strobe lights, and black lights flashed and a DJ stood in his booth high above the dancing and drinking crowd. Nick pulled Judy towards the bar and had to yell to find out what she wanted to drink and yell again to the bar tender who soon returned with their beverages. Nick threw his arm back around her shoulders and gave her a loving squeeze as they sipped their drinks and scanned the crowds.

After the first round of drinks had ended, Judy pulled Nick out onto the dance floor. The tunes from the DJ were energetic and the vibe from the crowd put the little bunny in a dancing mood. She swayed her hips to the music but Nick's mind seemed elsewhere as he continued to scan beyond the crowd. Judy gave his tie a tug to bring his attention down to her and when he did she rewarded him with a long kiss. She could feel him jerk back slightly in shock before he eagerly returned the affection. His lips were soft and parted quickly for her tongue to explore his mouth that was so strange and exotic to her with its rows of pointy fangs and large tongue. She continued to sway her hips and shoulders to the music, but now she was also running her paws up his chest and over his shoulders. He placed his paws on her hips in kind as they danced together, completely entwined in each other.

"Wow, Carrots! I thought it was going to take way more drinks than just one to get you into the mood," Nick shouted over the music after he finally broke the kiss. Rather than respond she just nuzzled herself into his chest. She could feel his heart pumping quickly and she pulled one paw down to rest on his chest as their bodies swayed to the DJ's beat. Her body was pressed against his and she could feel the flow of his muscles as he moved. He rested his chin on her head and she didn't hesitate to press her face into the fur of his neck, spreading her scent all over him. Suddenly, Nick's head popped up and his ears were pointed in alertness towards something. He then smiled down to her and pulled her paw across the dance floor.

"Ok, play it cool and just dance with me here," he yelled into her large ears.

"Why here? What's going on?" She yelled back over the loud music and before continuing to sway with the beat.

"There was a rumor that a certain pop star is celebrating her birthday here tonight. It turns out she is over here. Take a look, but don't be obvious," he instructed as he placed his paws back on her hips. She slid close and planted a little kiss on his cheek and as she did so she glanced out into the tables but could see no one that peaked her interest. She turned her direction back to the fox and spun around to dance with her back to him. Still she couldn't find who he was talking about and it distracted her from the heat that was building on the dance floor from all the bodies moving as well as the heat that generated between herself and the fox. Judy began to wish that Nick had never told her about the celebrity because the way his paws ran up and down her body as they moved about would sent her over the edge, had she been able to focus. Finally she gave up and pulled Nick back towards the bar for more cool drinks.

"You need to cool it with those paws, Slick. Unless you want to put me into heat," she said with a laugh but stopped when she saw the confused look he gave her.

"Wait what? What do you mean 'put into heat?'"

"What? No! I mean...uh...forget I said anything," she stammered as she reached for her glass.

"No seriously? What does that mean? Don't you have a season?" he asked as he leaned in.

"It's not like- I mean- I don't want to talk about biology right now. Let's just go back and dance," she said a quickly tipped her drink back and drank it with one gulp.

"What? Come on. I'll tell you when fox season is," he teased.

"No, Nick."

"We have a poem and everything," he smirked and cleared his throat as if her were to begin reciting Shakespeare, "When it is hot and sticky, that's no time to dunk your dickie. But when the frost is on the pumpkin that's the time for dickie dunkin."

"Nick, that's vulgar."

"But now you know when fox season is."

"Nick, I don't-"

"Now, tell me when rabbit season is!"

"You're a jerk, you know that."

"Yes of course. This is an obvious fact that everyone knows. Tell me how I can 'put' you into heat," he leaned in dangerously close, his body loomed over her and she realized there was no way he was going to let up.

"Fine, rabbits don't have a season. We become receptive after mating. It's like opening a Pandora's box. I probably should have told you before, especially after the spa yesterday. It's not exactly common knowledge," she said as she played with one of her ears, embarrassed.

"You make that sound like a bad thing, and don't worry about it. There's probably things about fox mating that you don't know about. I bet rabbits don't have to deal with knots," Nick shrugged.

"Knots? Like bondage?"

Nick just laughed as he pulled the naive bunny into a hug before pulling her back onto the dance floor. As soon as they returned to their spot, Judy instantly saw who Nick had been referring to earlier. Standing by the DJ booth was a large tiger with none other than the angel with horns herself.

"Oh, Nick! That's not really Gazelle over there is it?" Judy gave Nick a sudden tug on his sleeve and he looked through the crowd as the massive tiger stroked the back of his paw down the gazelle's long neck.

"Yeah, I can't imagine any other does that would let a large predator, like a tiger, run his claws down their neck like that," he yelled into her ear and tried to not be obvious about his staring.

"I can think of one other who might," Judy purred as she pressed her backside into him and began dancing. She looked over her shoulder into his bright green, hooded eyes.

"Oh really?" he teased and gently he traced one of his claws behind her jaw and down her neck. It continued to run across her collarbone and pulled at the neck of her shirt. Slowly, savoring each moment, he leaned forward to kiss her now exposed shoulder. She let out a stuttered gasp which did not go unnoticed by the fox. He raised his other paw up and gave one of her ears a gentle tug, pulling her head off to the opposite side, exposing her neck to his greedy mouth. He began with light kisses trailing from her shoulder up to her jaw but as he felt her melt into his arms he pulled his lips back to graze his fangs against her soft fur back down to her shoulders.

Judy let out a cry that was swept up in the music and noticed only by Nick. She writhed in his grasp as shivers ran all through her body. He laughed at her reaction but she responded by pulling at his shirt to drag him down to kiss her. She pressed tight up against him and moved beyond his long muzzle towards his ears and spoke only loud enough to be heard over the music, "You just wait till we get out of here!"

With those words she took a sudden step away from the him and threw her arms high in the air and let the music take control of her body, along with her lust. She swung her hips and her arms in smooth, fluid motions, much like a snake dancing on the tip of its tail. He stood back and watched her for only a few precious moments. Nick licked his lips before he was on her once again. His paws traced every inch of her body as she moved independent of him and she could feel him hesitate, restraining himself from running his hands to places they didn't belong in public.

"Carrots," Nick huffed out as he pulled her tight to him by the waist, "I thought we would try and catch Gazelle's attention, but if you keep dancing like this, I don't know how long my will power will hold out. I want you so bad right now."

Judy turned her large lilac eyes up to the fox and held his lustful gaze, "Well," she finally responded, "You're the nocturnal one here, not me. I'm ready to call it a night whenever you are."

"Don't tease me like that, Fluff."

Judy pulled Nick's head down so that the tip of his muzzle rested against her chest and her mouth was at the base of his ear. "It's not teasing if I give in, right?" she said seductively before giving his ear a light nibble. She could feel him tense before moving away. He gave the crowd a quick, alert glance before grabbing the little bunny by the paw and rushing her towards the door. Before they exited however, he stopped and turned to her, "Are you sure you want to go now? You don't know when the next chance for you meet a celebrity might be."

"Oh, I love her music alright," Judy replied as she pulled him out the door, "but I'm not _in_ love with her."

* * *

While flagging a taxi was easy, and the trip back to Nick's apartment was short, the two mammals could barely keep their paws to themselves. Nick was learning just why rabbits were so successful at procreating as she kissed his paws and rubbed his leg the entire ride home. He even struggled to unlock his door as the bunny was already trying to unbutton his shirt before they were even inside. As soon as the door swung open, she was all over him, forcing his shirt open.

"Whoa, whoa, pace yourself there," Nick pleaded as he peeled the eager rabbit off himself, "Not that this isn't extremely hot."

"Sorry," she blushed, suddenly feeling quite embarrassed.

"It's alright," he replied as he cupped her cheek with his paw. He looked down at his awkward bunny as she squirmed to restrain herself. "Its our first time. I want to savor it, that's all." She nodded in agreement before he lead her back to his room. With a gentle lift, he placed her on his bed and gave her a kiss and his tongue traced the tips of her large incisors. She wriggled, and struggled to keep her paws from tearing at his clothes as his own paws slid up her dress, past her thighs, over her hips and up her waist. The dress followed close behind his hands and she could feel the fabric come loose from her groin, exposing her underwear. Her hips bucked slightly in anticipation as she moaned into the fox's mouth.

"God, you really need this, don't you?" Nick asked, breaking off the kiss.

"Yes, Nick, please!" she gasped out.

Had she been in a more coherent mindset, she would have noticed the sly smirk that came over the fox's muzzle, though she could certainly hear his smugness as he replied, "Gosh, it would be just torture for you if I were to drag this out then, wouldn't it?"

"Nick!" an edge of warning tainted her lusty voice but the fox didn't seem worried as he pressed the end of his muzzle into her neck and began rooting around. She moaned and he slid one paw back down her body. Slowly, he traced the edges of her panties and her moans grew to gasps as one clawed finger slid over the cloth between her legs. He pressed down through the underwear into her folds and her back arched in anticipation.

After their silly competition at the spa, she was afraid that she had accidentally put herself into heat, and after the dancing at the club, she knew she had. In a way she was disappointed in herself. She had wanted to take things slow, to savor their first kiss, to take the time to explore their bodies, but the heat of her need outweighed what her mind and heart desired. In this way, despite her protests to the contrary, she was grateful to Nick and his teasing, sly attitude as he dragged out their lovemaking till it was almost torturous.

Judy bit her lip and closed her eyes as his fingers slid past the silky cloth and found their way deep inside her. She let out a low moan as he gently wiggled the finger inside her, his trimmed claw scraping gently against the most sensitive parts of her. He kissed her neck and ears gently as he experimented with the finger inside her and his thumb began rubbing along the outside of her, searching for the small piece of sensitive flesh that had made vixens of the past lustfully call his name. However, it wasn't his name he heard when he found what he was looking for but instead she let out a high pitched gasp that came out almost as a whine. He paused his kisses and stared at her face, her eyes remained closed but relaxed and her mouth hung loose as he rubbed her clit but she bit her lips and squeezed her eyes tight as he wriggled his finger inside her.

"You know," he all but growled in her ear, "with a little more practice, I could probably get you moaning out Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

"Sh-shut up!" Judy stuck her tongue out playfully but her ears grew bright red. She leaned forward to kiss him, but ended up moaning into his mouth as his finger curled forward rubbing her soft insides with a little more force than before. She leaned back against the bed, but now she had her paw to the back of his neck and pulled him down close to her. She held him tightly and pressed her body tight to his as she arched her back when he worked in a second finger.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked, his voice somewhere between caution and excitement.

"Oh God, Nick, yes," she replied through heavy breaths.

Nick leaned back from her as he pulled off his shirt. The pause in ecstasy gave Judy the chance to finish pulling off her dress. She watched his face as he savored the sight of her body before unbuttoning his own pants. With gentle fingers he pulled off her undies and in doing so he pulled her feet high over his shoulder as he flung the under garment backwards. He leaned forward and she could feel him press against her through his underwear and she could tell that this wasn't going to be like any other sex she'd had before. Judy looked down as he slid his drawers down and her heart quickened in both excitement and fear.

What Judy didn't realize was that Nick's eyes never really left her face and he could see her sudden look of shock. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to. We can stop whenever."

Shocked Judy glanced up into her concerned partner's face before she shook her head quickly. "No, I want this, but. Let's just go slow, OK?"

Nick smiled down at her and moved her legs back to their lying position before kissing her cheek gently. He pressed his body lightly against hers and peppered her ears slowly with kisses while he pressed into her. She let out a small whine and grasped the fur on his back as he filled her up slowly.

"Oh God, Judy! You feel incredible!" he moaned and her back arched in agreement. His larger size filled her completely, creating a pressure that nearly bordered on painful for the both of them and the relief was intense when he pulled back out. However, the pain wasn't nearly so bad that he didn't eagerly enter back into her a second time.

Judy let out a high pitched cry and Nick could feel himself push through a barrier inside her. He froze and looked into her pained face and panic filled him, "Oh, jeez Fluff! I didn't know this was your first time!"

"It's not, you dumb fox!" She opened one eye to look at him and she smiled, "You're just too big."

"Um, I'm sorry?" He said with a confused shrug.

"Don't be. Just keep going," she instructed with a purr. Judy nuzzled into the cream fur of his neck and slowly he rocked back out of her. With each rock forward following, they each let out a their own moans and cries though Nick restrained himself from going too far and causing his lover any more pain.

He didn't have to restrain himself for long though as the pressure from her small anatomy forced him towards climax faster than any vixen had done before. "Judy," he moaned, "I'm almost there."

"It's OK," she moaned as she grasped his back tightly and she could feel him tense up as he came inside her. She tensed and gritted her teeth as he pulsed against her already tight insides.

With a huff, Nick dropped his head down to her shoulder as they both began to relax. Judy scratched his pointed ear idly.

"Sorry, that was not my best performance," Nick finally said with a small sigh.

Judy chuckled, "Then I guess I'm in for a treat because that was amazing. I don't think I'm going to be able to walk tomorrow." They both let out a lazy laugh and Nick nuzzled into the little bunny's cheek.

"I should have know things would be a bit wonky, differing species and all. How are you feeling?"

"Amazing. Sore, but amazing," she replied dreamily, the post sex euphoria was beginning to kick in and her eyelids were growing heavy. Nick kissed the top of her head before he moved off her to clean up. When he came back with a towel she was already dozing on his bed. He gazed down at her beautiful relaxed face for a moment before he crawled into the bed next to her. He pulled the covers over the both of them, after turning out the light, and pulled her close like the small stuffed animal he had accused her of being once before. To think back to that time so long ago, he was amazed that they had grown into such good friends, let alone lovers. He could have never imagined he could ever experience such a sense of contentment before. Especially knowing that it came from, not only another person, but a female from an entirely different species who also happened to be a cop. His self from over a year ago would have never believed this could happen. He had never experienced this feeling from any of the other vixens he had dated in the past and if this wasn't the feeling, often referred to as "love," then he didn't know the meaning of the word. This last thought gave him comfort as he drifted off with the little rabbit, his rabbit, snuggled in his arms.


	15. Something is Off

Judy's eyes fluttered open and the first thing she noticed was the strange feel of her bed. It wasn't the soft fleece and thick comforter she was used to. As her consciousness returned she snuggled further under the soft flannel sheets and quilted blanket and smiled to herself before turning over to face her sleeping partner.

Nick's mouth hung open slightly, exposing the tips of his long canines. His muzzle twitched into a small snarl and his eyes rolled behind his lids, giving the faintest hint of his dreams. Judy chuckled at his strange sleeping quirk as she snuggled into his shoulder. At her touch, Nick let out a small, confused moan as he licked his lips before closing his mouth and turned towards her. With his eyes still closed, he reached over and grasped Judy like she was a teddy bear and pulled her close to him.

Judy giggled as she rubbed her face into his soft chest fur and this seemed to be enough to rouse the sleepy fox.

"There's a bunny in my bed." Nick stated plainly and Judy melted at the sound of his sleepy voice. It had a lower more gravely tone than usual and filled her with glee and aroused her slightly as she remembered why she was in his bed in the first place.

Nick opened one eye lazily and looked down at the blissful bunny, "Well, if it isn't Officer Toot-toot. Shacking up with some scruffy fox. Boy I knew this city was going to eat you up eventually."

Judy gave Nick a small, playful shove and he let out a small chuckle to mirror her giggle. He pulled her tighter against his body until she let out a small squeak.

"Careful, you may just crush me with those big strong fox arms of yours," she cautioned in a mockingly seductive tone as she ran her paw across his chest, feeling the muscles hiding under the fur. The action must have caused a small rise in her partner as she could she his tail, peeking from under the covers, begin to wag. She pulled her other paw up and, with both paws, she began rubbing his chest which only caused his tail to beat against the bed faster and faster. Judy pulled herself away from the fox and continued running her paws up and down his chest, giggling at how the attention was bringing him such physical joy. His tail wagged so fast that the bed began to shake and his tongue lolled out of his smiling mouth.

She smiled and stopped suddenly. She kissed the bottom of his jaw before hopping away from him and out of the bed. He groaned in disappointment as she left him but when he looked over at her nude form stretching her morning stiffness away, his disappointment quickly turned to arousal.

"You should come back into bed with me," he cooed to her, his intention clear. She gave one last, extra large stretch, more for his benefit than hers. He watched as her thin summer fur revealed the lines of her muscular form, and he licked his lips as he appreciated the roundness of her backside.

"Sorry Slick, I'm going to need some recovery time after last night. Last night didn't exactly go how either of us expected, not entirely."

He smiled as he nuzzled into his pillow, trying to look appealing to his bunny so that she might at least come back and snuggle with him. While, ultimately unsuccessful, she did pause to savor his stretched out form.

"Hmmmmm, no sorry," she replied. "But how is this for a plan; I'll take the bus back to my place, grab some new clothes and then jog through the park back here. It should only take about twenty minutes. The exercise will help me recover and then maybe you could help me clean up in the shower?"

"One quarter of a century old and you still haven't figured out how to clean yourself? Pathetic little bunny," he mock scolded, "but if you need help, I suppose I could offer my assistance."

A flying pillow struck the fox as Judy pulled on her clothes. She crawled across the bed and gave her sexy mate a chaste kiss before she bounced out the door.

"I'll have coffee ready when you get back!" He called out to her before he heard the door open and close, signalling her exit. Nick stretched, now alone with his own thoughts. He pulled the pillow she had been sleeping on close to him and took a long whiff. His own scent mingled with hers as well as the musky scent of sex. This wasn't like the scent that was left behind when he was finished with a vixen. It had an entirely different flavor that that was not only intoxicating, but intriguing at the same time. It was like successfully taking an ethnic twist to a favorite food or hearing a favorite song being covered by a talented musician in a different style. He continued to indulge in the primitive guilty pleasure of her scent for a few moments longer before his promise of coffee and rumbling stomach urged him out of bed.

He pulled on a pair of boxers before he wandered towards the kitchen. He glanced through his cupboard, wondering if he had anything she could eat for breakfast when she got back.

"Lucky Bugs? No. Fishy-O's? No. Fruit bars? Maybe. Eggs? Oh! No for her, yes for me!" Nick licked his lips as he reached for two eggs from the fridge. Having a properly cooked breakfast with coffee was a luxury he usually didn't bother with, opting instead for an extra ten minutes of sleep, but thanks to his new lover, he was wide awake and ready to start the day. He started the coffee and made his eggs and sat down to a nice quiet breakfast.

He glanced at the clock as he finished his last few sips of coffee.

 _8:43. What time did she leave? I should have looked at the clock earlier. It doesn't take that long to make breakfast and eat it. She should be back in five or ten minutes._

Nick wandered into the bathroom and gave himself, a quick once over in the mirror as he brushed his teeth. Just because he was waiting for her to come back to shower, didn't mean that he had to be completely scuzzy when she got back. He glanced at the clock again as he stepped back out of the bathroom which now read 8:49. Judy should have been back by now and if they were going to take a shower together, they would have to start soon because he had to be in for the afternoon shift in a few hours and he wanted to take full advantage of the time he had left.

 _Maybe she decided against a shower together and is getting cleaned up at her place. That would suck. I really wanted to get her all wet and worked up again._ _Should I keep waiting for her? Maybe I should give her a call really quick. She probably has her phone on her. No, I'm being clingy. I'll wait._

He turned back to the kitchen and washed the pan and plate he had used for his breakfast and then looked back at the clock. 8:54. With a heavy sigh he pulled his uniform out of the closet, clean and pressed, and checked his equipment, just trying to keep himself occupied. Handcuffs, check. Firearm at the ready, check. Radio, check and fully charged. Protective vest, check. Time on the clock? 8:58.

 _Where is she? Maybe I should give her a call? Maybe I should go ahead and get started with the shower on my own. No, I'll call her first._

Nick reached for his phone and pressed the screen to call "Carrots." It rang a few times before he heard the call connect. "Hey Fluff, did you get lost? What's takin' ya so long?"

No response came from the phone. He looked at his screen to make sure the call had actually connected. He saw the call timer on the screen slowly count up and he placed the phone back to his ear.

"Jude?"

A chuckle answers over the phone, but it wasn't Judy's laugh. It was deep, like a male's voice.

"Officer Hopps cannot come to the phone right now." Nick could feel his heart drop into his stomach at the sound of the strange voice. The fur on his back, from the top of his head to the tip of his tail, stood on end.

"Who is this? Why do you have Judy's phone?"

"Take a guess prey fucker. If you want to see her alive, you will follow my instructions very carefully. Do not call the cops. Come alone or she dies. See you soon Officer Wilde."


	16. Cop, Hustler, Fox

_Fuckin' son of a bitch. If he hurt even one strand of her fur I will tear him apart with my own claws. Punk ass fucker. "Neh, don't call the cops." Who the fuck did he think he was talking to?_

Nick grumbled to himself as he approached the derelict house in a rundown section of neighborhood. He had to admit, it was a good location for a kidnapping. All the other houses in the surrounding area appeared to be abandoned as well. If shots were fired or victims screamed, they would have gone mostly unnoticed.

 _Works fine for me. I'm gonna kill the little pisser nice and slow for this. Judy will be mad, probably won't talk to me ever again, but hey, killings stop and she'll be ok. Who says vigilante justice is a bad thing?_

He stood at the front door of the house and eyeballed the windows for any movement. When he saw none, he took a long breath to clear his head.

 _Alright, time to calm down. I'm not scared. I'm not angry. I am cool and calm. This is just another hustle. It's just like working with Mr. Big again, only I'm in a little deeper this time. I am smart. I am quick. I am not emotional. I can do this. This is just another hustle._

With a final breath, Nick slid his firearm that he had hoped never to fire, let alone out of uniform, out from his waist band and pressed against the filthy door. It swung open easily and Nick glanced cautiously into the trashed, graffiti covered building. Aside from being disgusting to look at, he could see nothing amiss, and no sign of Judy or her abductor. He closed his eyes as he sniffed the air. He could smell mold, dust, rot, and even feces. It almost covered up the scent of recently mated rabbit but not enough to completely mask it. There was another smell there as well that made his fur stand on the back of his neck and his muzzle gave an involuntary snarl. It was the smell of blood.

He opened his eyes again and he was deathly aware of how keen his senses had become. His ears twitched at every creak the house gave. His calloused paw pads could feel every groove in the rough wooden floor boards and his nose followed his targeted scent easily. His mind was clear and focused, narrowed in on his prey though his senses were tuned towards any dangers that may arise.

He followed her scent through the house as quietly as he could stepping on the old floor boards carefully and shifting his weight slowly. He had never been so stealthy in his life. He continued through the house to a door where he stopped and listened. His ears stood at attention and his head cocked in different directions as he tried to guess what could be on the other side of the door. He could hear the shuffling of footsteps but they were low, lower than the floor he stood on. The door must have lead to a basement. His target would know he was coming down before he would be able to even see him. He continued to listen. There was only one set of feet moving, but they weren't Judy's, they were too heavy. A chain rattled lightly. Was she tied down?

Nick took one deep breath, gathered his courage and slowly opened the door. It creaked on its hinges, alerting the abductor to his presence. Nick cringed and called out, so as not to startle his foe, "Hank? It's me. I'm coming down."

"Officer! Welcome! I have someone who would like to see you," came the response as Nick made his way slowly down the stairs. He hid his weapon along his side as he moved. "Unfortunately, she's a bit tired at the moment. I'm sure she won't mind being woken up though."

As Nick made his way down the steps he could see Hank Trapper standing beside an unconscious Judy Hopps. She hung from the ceiling, her wrists were bound high above her head by thin chains, as if in some medieval torture dungeon. Blood was caked along one side of her face and her athletic outfit was torn and smeared with dirt and grass. Trapper ran his paws up Judy's sides, pulling at her shirt. One of his webbed paws held a knife and slid it gently across her exposed abdomen, while the other reached across her thin chest.

 _Never let them see that they get to you. He wants you to get mad. He wants to watch you react. Stay cool, no matter how much you want to splatter his brains against the wall. If you try to shoot him now, you might hit Judy instead._

The beaver continued running his claws through Judy's silver fur while Nick did his best to restrain himself. "Now, you'll have to excuse me, but the roles are a little reversed at this point," Hank explained, "I usually knock out the male and force the female to tie herself up, but after you put on those zip ties right over there, we can put things back in the right order."

Nick glare and the zip ties on the floor near his feet and then back to the beaver

"No," Nick said with a tone of disgust. Hank gave Nick a surprised look and Nick continued, "Yeah, I said 'no.' Why should I?"

The beaver stood stunned for a moment before he replied angrily, "Because if you don't, I'm going to kill this pred fucking little whore." He then moved the knife that had been lightly gliding through soft belly fur and pressed it against Judy's throat.

Nick nodded, though he was a volcano inside, on the outside he was apparently undisturbed by the blade at his lover's throat. His face remained cool although he could feel his pulse quicken and his vision was flashing shades of red. He made no motion towards the plastic ties and never took his eyes off the beaver although part of him hoped the dumb mammal could see the blood lust that was rising in him. "Yeah, still not seeing the motivation on my part here, frie- scratch that, you're no friend of mine." The beaver looked shocked and dumbfounded by Nick's brazen attitude. "Let me guess, you tricked all those ladies into thinking you would hurt their mates if they didn't cooperate, not realizing that you were going kill them both from the start? Hope can be a powerful tool to use against someone, especially if it's a false hope. Well, I have no false hopes here. I'm not some random, ignorant nobody. I'm a cop. I've seen what you do to your victims. I know full well that if I tie myself up, neither me, nor my partner, are getting out of here alive. So again I ask, what do _I_ get if I do as you want?"

The beaver glared at the cool fox, "Fine, if that's how you want to be. Go ahead and ruin my fun. I'll just open up her neck right now and then I'll come after you with this knife. Is that what you'd prefer?"

Nick let out a cold smirk as he revealed his gun and gave it a playful wave before pointing it at the beaver's head. The beaver gasped and hid himself further behind the bunny.

"This is why you might want to reconsider that plan, because right now, my Judy is the only thing preventing me from shooting you down. I want to bring her home alive, but if she's already dead, then I have no problem sullying her corpse to take down her killer. I'm not in uniform. I don't have my badge, and I have no intention of making an arrest today. I'd really rather just kill you."

"You-you wouldn't do that! You're a cop!" the beaver stammered.

Nick let out a wicked laugh, "For all of two months! You should have done your research, boy! I was a hustler before this. A con artist! I worked for the most notorious crime boss in this city. I am not afraid to get my fur dirty, you little prick. If she dies, you die with her!" Nick let his cool slip enough to show the beaver how serious he was. He could feel his fur rise and he watched the beaver squirm uncertainly behind the still limp bunny.

"So what then? If I kill her then you kill me, but she's still alive. Are you going to kill me anyways? You said it yourself, she's the only thing keeping me alive. What do we do now smart guy?"

"Luckily, I'm a business mammal at heart. Let's make a deal. I will forgive this severe lapse in judgement, if she is ok. Show me that she is ok, leave me the means to get her out of those chains and you can just walk away."

"Re-really? What's the catch?"

"No catch. Although, I haven't seen her move on her own since I got here. I want to make sure she is OK first, and then we all leave. We'll pretend this never happened and we will continue chasing after you tomorrow. That will give you plenty of time to pack up your shit and get out of town. Take the deal. We can all leave happy," Nick's voice softened as he tried to make himself sound more trustworthy.

"Fine. You want to see that she's ok first though? I know how to do that, but you have to lower the gun," the beaver insisted and Nick did as he was told, though he still held it at the ready. When the beaver no longer had a gun pointed to his face, Nick could see a smugness creep back over it.

"Luckily you perverts are all the same. You'll fuck whatever comes near. Let me take this time to educate you, as a token of our new understanding. Change your ways and stick with someone of your own kind. Does and bitches that fuck other species are loose, immoral, and have no sense of loyalty. This little bitch will get wet and fuck anyone, just watch," fear creeped up Nick's spine as the beaver spoke. He watched as his free hand slid down Judy's belly and into her pants.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Nick snarled as he pulled the gun back up to the beaver's face.

"Relax, friend. She'll enjoy it. All the others did. Stupid little cunts get wet for anything that touches them. Just watch," Nick fought the urge to pull the trigger as he watched the beaver reach between Judy's legs. Nick took a step forward and was about yell again when he caught the faintest twitch in his partner's face.

"Hmmm, Nick?" she whimpered. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked first into the face of her partner. Her eyes were bleary and a smile smile slid across her face before the wheels began turning in her head. She looked down at Nick's gun pointed at her and a confused terror flew across her face. She made to step away from the gun but that was when she seemed to notice for the first time the body that was behind her, with it's arm draped down into her pants. She looked down, horrified at the thick brown arm that was rubbing at her roughly. The fingers sliding inside of her. She pulled on the chains that secured her to the ceiling as she let out a scream.

The beaver smirked at her reaction, but neither male could have expected her next course of action. In her panic, she pulled herself away from her attacker's lose grip, the sharp knife sliding across her neck. After swinging as far from her attacker as possible, she pulled her legs in close to her body and, combined with the force of swinging back towards the beaver, she kicked out at him with all her might. She hit him square in the stomach with such force that he was knocked flat on his backside and gasping for air.

Nick instantly saw the blood that streamed quickly down her neck and ran to her. He threw his paw over the wound, hoping to slow the blood flow before his eyes shot up, trying to deduce how to unfasten her from the ceiling. Meanwhile Hank lay coughing and sputtering on the ground, trying to catch his breath.

"Damnit, Judy. That was a stupid move," Nick cursed as his eyes darted between her and the beaver. Her chains were connected to a hook and, though he couldn't free her completely, he could easily let her loose from the ceiling. However, he already had one hand pressed against Judy's neck and the other still held his weapon. With the winded beaver still gasping on the ground, Nick quickly holstered his weapon to release Judy from the ceiling which still proved difficult with one hand still occupied on her neck. By the time he had released her, Hank was regaining his breath and beginning to stand. Judy dropped into her fox's arms and he sunk to earthen floor with her.

"Nick, Nick, I, uh," she tried to speak but her voice was weak and her words were slurred.

"Shush. It's OK, Carrots. I've got you," Nick tried to calm the bunny, though he kept his ears trained on the beaver who had stood and was glaring at the couple. Nick returned the glare and growled at Hank, "She'll be fine, you held up to your end of the bargain. Now get out of here. Go!"

 _Dear God please just leave. She's lying on the gun and if I move her she could start bleeding out. Go. Go! Just go damn it!_

"Fine, I'll go. I'll tell you what, I'll even dedicate my next kill to you Officer Wilde. How's that?" Hank gloated as he walked past Nick cautiously. "I wonder how many more I can get before you catch me? Maybe I'll make some modifications to my routine as well. Gosh this has been a real learning experience."

Nick continued to glare at the beaver until he had reached the stairs behind him. As the killer took his first steps up the creaky stairs, Nick looked down at the bunny in his arms. She was still but breathing and the bleeding seemed to stop. Perhaps she wasn't injured as bad as he feared. His ears remained angled back, listening for Hank's paw steps and he realized soon that Hank had never gone up the stairs. He was still standing there, behind him. Nick could hear his breathing, a quiet wheezing sound.

"You should go, Hank. I didn't call the cops, like you asked, but I did send an email with a time delay. They will be coming very shortly," Nick informed the beaver though he didn't hear him make any movement up the stairs.

Nick reached for his weapon, more confident at Judy's condition, but before he could pull it out he felt the beaver's full weight come crashing over his shoulders just before a sharp pain exploded through his lower back. Nick let out a scream as his back burst with a searing pain again and again and again before the beaver finally released Nick. His back was on fire and he could feel the blood pooling and dumping through his fur and across his skin.

"Boy, I hope you weren't bluffing about that email," Hank laughed, "That was for ruining my game. I hope you survive though. I'd really like to try playing with you again."

Hank scurried up the stairs before the fox could pull his gun out again. As it turned out, Hank had no need to fear retaliation from the fox as Nick sat, hunched over the rabbit shaking from pain and blood loss.

Judy had been conscious through the attack though her clouded mind didn't know how to react when he squeezed her tightly and began to scream. She heard the beaver laugh and gloat before retreating.

"Nick?" She asked nervously.

"I-it's alright, Fluff," he lied. "The ZPD are coming, but you might want to call Bogo to make sure there's an ambulance as well.". He tried to let out a small chuckle to ease the bunny, but the pain stopped him.

Judy squirmed from the fox though he tried to keep ahold of her. She examined his back and when she saw the blood streaming through his shirt she let out a loud gasp.

"Nick, you have to lie down! We have to get you to a hospital!" She cried as she repositioned the fox before digging through his pockets for his cell phone. She didn't bother unlocking the phone but instantly swiped the emergency call button.

"Hello? Yes, this is Officer Judy Hopps. I need an ambulance. I have an off duty officer and he's down. Multiple stab wounds," she called into the phone. "Where are we? I-I don't know! Nick? Nick, where are we? Nick!"

Judy gave Nick's shoulders a shake and his eyes fluttered slightly. He tried to focus on Judy's face and her voice but everything was starting to turn dark for him. He could hear her scream his name in panic, but she sounded so far away and muffled as if underwater before everything went dark and quiet.


	17. Hurting

_Where am I? Where am I?_

Judy scrambled up the steps of the basement and out the door as fast as she could. As soon as she was out the door she spun around to look over the facade.

"I-I can't see any street numbers. I don't even know what street I'm on," she called to the 911 operator. Her head was swirling and she could barely hear the operator over the intense ringing in her ears. The world pitched and spun as she tripped down the steps of the porch. She quickly looked around her and only saw more broken and abandoned homes and not a single street sign to tell her where she was. She held the cell phone close to her chest and she let out a scream as loud as she could, hoping someone, anyone could hear her and come to investigate.

 _He's down there dying and there is nothing I can do! I can't even call for help if I don't know where I am!_

She stumbled to her feet again, but nearly toppled over as her head began to throb so violently, she thought she was going to pass out again. The ringing in her ears increased until it felt like a siren was roaring right beside her. Flashes of color blinded her. She held her head, trying to will away the symptoms of what must have been a very severe concussion. It wasn't until she felt a pressure on her shoulder and looked up into a towering mass of blue and grey that she realized that there really was a siren blaring near by her.

She couldn't understand the words that came out of the towering figure and even though she knew that the voice was familiar, she couldn't identify the large mammal that was now grasping her with both hooves.

"Nick's in there! He's bleeding! Help him! Please!" she called, though she knew her words were coming out mangled and slurred. She saw the large bull look up and shout orders to unknown mammals even though she couldn't understand what those orders were. He looked back down and spoke to her again. He was asking her a question and she tried to figure out what it was but her brain was just too foggy and things were starting to turn black.

"Uh-uh! Stay with me Hopps." the large bull called sternly as he gave the little doe a small shake.

"Chief!" she responded started, finally realizing who she was speaking to. "Nick, he's hurt and in the basement! You have to help him."

"Yes, I know that, we already have an ambulance here. I need to know who did this. Where did they go?" Bogo railed, trying to take advantage of Judy's moment of clarity.

Judy stared at the buffalo for a moment, his words slowly becoming more muddied to her ears before she pieced together his words and responded, "Hank Trapper! He's the killer we've been hunting. He attacked me. Then he attacked Nick. He's a beaver, 19, maybe 20 years old."

Bogo nodded and shouted more orders, both to the officers around him and into the radio clipped to his shoulder, his words were losing meaning to the rabbit. Out of nowhere a strange, new set of hooves, thinner and more gentle than Bogo's pulled at her arm. She looked up at an elk she didn't recognize and panic filled the bunny. "No, I need to see Nick! He's in the basement. Did you get him? Is he ok?" The elk nodded in response but Judy couldn't understand his words as he tried to guide her to an ambulance but Judy resisted. Darkness clouded over her eyes again and she fought weakly against the elk before passing out completely.

* * *

"Judy? Judy, dear. It's time to wake up."

Judy moaned and turned her head away from the voice.

"I know you must be tired, but it's time to wake up. Some of your friends from the police are here to see you and I need to take some tests. So, up we go."

Judy glared at the elderly nurse that had pulled her from the sweet abyss of a dreamless sleep. Her glare was accompanied by a growl after the old skunk shined a flashlight into the bunny's eyes.

"Well listen to you," the skunk commented, sounding more amused than frightened by the bunny's primitive form of communication. "If she seems oddly irritable, Officer, it's just a symptom of the concussion. You can ask your questions, but remember, her memory might be a little wonky for a while. I'm going to let the doctor know she is awake."

"Thank you Mrs. O'dare," came the gruff voice of the police chief. Slowly, as the sleep cleared from her mind, the crushing memories of what had happened to the little bunny came rolling back to her. She placed a paw over her eyes as she tried to block out the memory of waking up in the perverted grasp of a stranger and the image of her best friend lying lifeless and covered in blood.

"How are you feeling?" Bogo asked, his voice was gentle, almost fatherly. Judy tried to answer but everything was simply too much for her mind to process and so she just shook her head and tried not to cry. Bogo walked to the bedside and placed a hoof gently on her shoulder. Judy held it as she tried to regain her composure.

"I-is Ni-Nick-" Judy stammered but the buffalo cut her off.

"He is alive, but he's in critical condition. He is in surgery right now to assess and fix the damage."

Judy nodded and she let out a relieved sigh. She took a few more deep breaths to calm herself.

"I know this has been traumatic, but I still have mammals out looking for your attacker. I'd like to take your statement so we can narrow our search. What happened?"

Judy nodded her head and it began to throb as a headache bloomed slowly. She took one more deep breath before she began, "I was jogging through the park from my place to Nick's." There was no need to tell the Chief about her already being at Nick's place or why. It was common knowledge that the fox and bunny were the best of friends and Bogo didn't need to know more than that. "Well, as I'm jogging, I hear someone yelling for help. Naturally, I go to investigate. I can't just leave a mammal in need, so I go to where I heard the yell. I went into the forest a short way and suddenly, BAM! I'm on the ground and my head is in so much pain I'm nauseous. I turn around and I see my attacker clearly holding a wrench over my head. I recognized him right away. It was Hank Trapper. I met him at his home with Lupe. Well, he hit me again and I blacked out. When I woke up again the first thing I saw was Nick and he was pointing a gun at me!"

"Wilde had his gun on you?" Bogo asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah. I was confused too until I realized that there was someone behind me. He, um, he had," Judy stopped speaking as she remembered the shock she felt when she realize that she had woken up from his paws inside her. "Well, anyways, I didn't notice the knife," she said, changing the direction of the conversation. "So, when my instincts kicked in, I think I ended up hurting myself as much as Hank. Nick tried to help me, and I guess he left himself vulnerable in the process. I remember him screaming and all the blood. I tried calling for help, but I didn't know where we were. I couldn't do anything. I was just useless. I-I" Judy's next words were lost in loud sniffs as she tried to fight back the tears that were building.

"Alright, alright. Pull yourself together Hopps. You identified the attacker and I've got every unit in the city searching for him, and every news network in the city is running his photo. As soon as he pops his head out of wherever he is hiding, we will have him," Bogo assured Judy as she tried to get control of her breathing and emotions. "Now, you recognized this mammal. Wasn't he the one being investigated for the 'Lovebird' killings?" Bogo waited for her to nod before continuing, "Did he say anything implicating himself as the murderer you were searching for?"

"I don't know. I don't remember anything that was said. It was all just sounds," Judy explained, "maybe Nick knows."

"Don't worry, I'll be having a long chat with him when he wakes up," Bogo responded in a gruff voice, though he gave Judy a smile and a wink when she looked up at him. She managed a weak smile back when there was a knock at the door. In walked a pleasant looking kangaroo in a lab coat with a tablet tucked under her arm.

"Hey, there's the hero. How are you feeling?" she asked as she entered the room.

Judy gave the kangaroo a quizzical look before responding, "It hurts, but everything is pretty clear."

"OK! Awesome! I'll see if I can get you something for the pain. Oh, I'm Dr. Martin by the way," the kangaroo replied cheerily. "That was quite the concussion, worst I've seen in years, but if you're only feeling pain and no other symptoms then that's a good thing."

"Perhaps I'll take this opportunity to excuse myself," Bogo interrupted the doctor, "Hopps, I have Fangmeyer posted as extra security just outside the door." Judy nodded and waved goodbye to the large buffalo.

Dr. Martin waited till he was gone before she continued with her medical explanations, "Yes, well, as I was saying, we were able to identify the point of trauma to a hairline fracture on your skull. The damage there is minimal, but there is no way I can permit you to return to full duty police work until it is fully healed. The concussion itself was far more severe. You had a lot of fluid that flowed into the cranial cavity that needed to be drained. For that, I would like to keep you overnight to make sure no more fluid enters that area. Please let us know if you get dizzy or your hearing or vision feels off. The wound to your neck was very superficial, but the location makes healing difficult so you have three stitches in your neck. All in all, if you try not to move your head too much you will be fine and should be able to leave after 24 hours." Judy nodded periodically, showing that she understood everything the doctor said. "OK, so, do you have any questions?"

Judy was quiet for a moment. After what had happened after the past 24 hours, she had many questions and concerns, but her head was at least clear enough to focus on her most important concerns, "Do you know how Nick is? Nick Wilde?"

The kangaroo gave Judy a confused look, "I'm sorry dear, I don't know who that is."

"He arrived with me. He was stabbed in the back several times. The Chief said he made it here."

"Oh, I don't know. He's not one of my patients," she explained, her chipper voice growing more somber as she pulled up a chair.

"Could you look him up? Has he made it out of surgery yet?"

"Even if I have access to that information, privacy laws would prevent me from sharing them."

"Well then could you just tell me about his injuries? He was stabbed in the lower back, below the ribs," Judy continued to press the doctor.

The doctor sighed. She could see the desperation in the bunny's face and knew it would be best to humor her, "It depends greatly on where he was stabbed exactly. There are a lot of organs in the abdominal cavity below the rib cage. If your friend was hit in the kidneys or liver, it wouldn't take very long for a mammal to bleed out. However, if he made it here, then those organs are probably fine. If he was stabbed in the bowls, which is really only likely if the knife was very large, or the attacker moved very fast, then you're friend will have to deal with a nasty infection. The abdominal cavity is relatively sterile, but the bowl is filled with bacteria that are necessary for digestion. You don't want what's in your bowls to be inside you, and the blood loss that I'm sure comes with a stabbing will hinder his ability to fight the infection." The doctor glanced at the little bunny whose eyes had grown large, her ears drooped back and her chin began to quiver. The kangaroo jumped a little in surprise before she continued, "bu-but as I said, getting stabbed in the bowls is very unlikely! They are too slick and slippery! They usually move right out of the way!"

Judy ran her paws down her face, trying to process the information given to her by the doctor. She looked at the marsupial and asked, "Could I get up and walk around while I'm here?"

"If you are feeling comfortable enough for it," she responded, relieved at Judy's turn in demeanor, "However, you might want to have a nurse escort you and I don't recommend too much movement."

"In that case, where is the waiting room for surgery? I'd like to spend my next 24 hours with my partner," Judy responded with a determined glint in her eye.

"I don't think that would be such a good idea," the doctor replied, "You are here so that I can monitor you. If you develope more fluid in your cranium, it could lead to permanent impairment of your senses, you could even slip into a coma or die."

"I'm going to see my partner. He's hurt because of me, I will see him with your blessing or without it."

"Ms. Hopps, that is highly ill advised," the doctor protested loudly but her words were ignored as the determined bunny sat up and swung her legs over the bed. She began pulling off her heart rate monitor when a large tigress in a blue police uniform entered the room.

"Pardon my eavesdropping," she said politely to the doctor before turning to the rabbit, her eyes turned steely and threatening, "Stay down Officer."

Judy was taken aback by her fellow officer's vaguely threatening tone before she puffed her chest out towards the larger mammal. "No, I need to see Nick."

Fangmeyer walked in front of Judy and set her paws on her hips as she glared down at the bunny. "You will stay in this bed, do I make myself clear?"

Judy refused to relent as she stood on the bed, her tiny paws balled into fists. Even with the boost in height from the bed, Judy still had to stare way up at the large tigress. "Get out of my way, Monique," she demanded. Meanwhile, Dr. Martin all but cowered in the corner as the tension between the two females grew thicker.

"Sit down Hopps," Monique growled through gritted and bared fangs, but Judy still wouldn't back down. The two females stared at each other for a long moment, before Monique let out a loud sigh. Despite her ability to easily rip apart the tiny mammal, she knew that in a match of will power, very few creatures could defeat Judith Hopps. Her eyes softened as she regarded the little rabbit, "Think about this Judy. What good are you going to be to your partner if you let your injuries get the better of you. Plus he's still in surgery, you can't see him anyways." The large tiger threw her paws in the air for emphasis to show Judy how ridiculous she was being. "And do you really think that you're the only injured officer in this building with a security detail? Higgins is already standing outside the operating room waiting for Wilde. If you'd like I can have him radio me the moment Wilde comes out of surgery and you can visit him then. Until then, why don't you let the nice doctors and nurses do their job and let them take care of you."

Judy stared up at the big tigress, her arguments had been completely deflated and she had to concede to Fangmeyer's logic, even though it didn't put her mind at ease.

"But, what if something happens? What if he doesn't make it out of surgery?" Without her tough bravado, Judy could feel herself breaking down at the thought of her worst fears coming true.

Fangmeyer sat herself on the bed next to her fellow officer and her voice turned more sweet and motherly, "If Nick doesn't make it, then there will be nothing you could have done to help him. All you can do now is wait and pray and let the surgeons do their work. When he comes out, I will walk you to his room myself."

Judy collapsed onto the bed and the large tigress placed her giant paw over the small bunny's shoulder as she began to sob.

"I'm scared 'Nique. I don't know what to do."

"I know dear, I know. But, it's all up to the doctors and Nick himself now. He's a fighter, you'll see. He'll make it," Fangmeyer comforted her coworker as the little bunny sobbed. She rubbed the small mammal's back lightly and whispered, "We just have to wait and see."


	18. Perchance to Dream

Not many mammals had come to pay their respects. Naturally Nick's mother was there, standing right next to the open coffin. Her eyes were red and puffy, though she held herself together with dignity as the parade of mourners shared their condolences. The small orange kit that had been standing at her side walked away unnoticed and approached the casket. He made his way up the viewing steps and looked down into the casket at the tod that lay inside.

 _Well, at least it's not me in the box,_ he thought, far too grimly for someone his age. His gaze shifted to his own tiny brown paws and then back to the lifeless fox in front of him. _I remember this, it was Dad's calling hours. I didn't really understand what was happening then. I guess I still don't. Is this what it's like when your life flashes before your eyes? It's very vivid. I guess I should have tried a little harder to kill that beaver._

The kit moved away from the casket and began wandering around the funeral home, listening to the conversations of the other mourners.

"Such a shame something like this had happened."

"He was so young too."

"He was really pulling his life together recently too."

"What do you think is going to happen to his widow and kit now?"

"They'll probably end up back in Happy Town. I hear she has family there."

"A single vixen with a kit just can't make it on their own."

"I feel bad for little Nicky, growing up fatherless in Happy Town. There's not much chance for a good future for him now."

"He'll probably grow up to be a thug like every other fox kit these days."

 _Judgemental assholes. I remember overhearing this conversation, although I didn't understand it when I was a kid. Listen to these creeps just assuming I was going to turn into a worthless piece of garbage._

"I can hear you jerks," he said to the larger mammals. They looked down at the tiny kit shocked. "How about a little faith and trust, huh?"

"Even though you're a fox?" Nick looked back over his shoulder at the familiar voice. He saw a group of kids dressed in junior ranger scout uniforms and barely had a moment to react before they pounced on him. They held him down and forced a muzzle over his face despite how much he struggled.

"What the hell?" he yelled out from under the dog pile, "This didn't happen at the funeral! This happened years later!"

"If you ever thought we would trust a fox without a muzzle, you're dumber than you look," they gloated as they released him.

They laughed as Nick stood up and glared at the larger prey mammals. The last time he was in this situation, he had run away, broken hearted and crying. The last time, he had been shocked and betrayed. This was not the same as last time. He slipped the muzzle strap over his ears and let it fall to the floor. The other a scouts stopped their laughing and stared at the snarling kit before he pounced in the center of the group. His little claws flew in every direction as he let his anger out.

"This is what I should have done the first time," he yelled as he pummeled the groundhog in the center. The other kids screamed and yelled and chanted before he was pulled off the creature and up into the air. He struggled as he was held by the large bison that had been principal of his elementary school. Nick looked back at his foe, instead of the chubby ranger scout, there was a young boar in regular kid clothes. His face was bloodied from claw and tooth marks.

Nick's heart suddenly sank, not out of guilt for what he had done, but for the consequences of what he remembered was going to come next. It wasn't long after he had been chased out of the Junior Ranger Scouts when a piglet had called him a "Red Devil" and insisted that foxes were all bad. He had convinced the other boys not to play with Nick, and instead they teased him and called him rabbid. Nick had been dealing with this bully for weeks, even before the Ranger Scout indecent, and the hurt from then combined with the pig's constant torture had gotten the better of him. One day, the boar had taken his teasing too far and threw an apple at him. Naturally the teachers hadn't seen that part, they only saw Nick jump on the bully and sink his fangs into the pig's fat snout.

Nick was carried to and plopped down in the principal's office and left there. He knew that soon the principal would return to scream at him, followed shortly by his mother. Then the principal would yell at her and tell her what a no-good hooligan her son was turning into. She would be furious at Nick and then the principal would announce that that the 9 year old was expelled and that's when she would start to cry and beg the principal for another chance.

"I can't go through this again," he muttered to himself. "I made that poor woman cry so much, all because of my poor decisions. She deserved a better son than me, a better life than she had. She worked so hard just to make life livable. Those mammals at my father's funeral were right. I did turn out to be just a punk kid."

"A criminal, Nicholas! That's what you've become. This can't really be what you want to do with you life?"

He looked out the door of the principal's office. Instead of opening up to the main office, he was in the high school hallway. He walked into the hall and he was facing a long row of lockers. A police officer was rifling through through one of the lockers, pulling out CDs, DVDs, baseball cards and other trading cards and handing them to a middle aged nanny goat. Nick knew the cop wasn't really interested in his bootleg movies and albums, but he wasn't going to find what he was looking for. He glanced behind him once again, a group of teen lionesses were smirking in his direction from the safety of a classroom. He glared at them.

"Alright kid, where's the weed?" the officer asked finally, unsatisfied with his search.

"I dunno, did you check the yard? It's a good time of year for dandelions," Nick squeaked moodily back before clearing his throat. He had almost forgotten what a mess his voice was when he was a teen.

"This isn't a game kid. I've already got enough here to send you to juvenile detention till you max out your sentence. Tell me where the drugs are and maybe the judge will go easy on you," the bull officer demanded.

"Juve! Bullshit! It's not a crime to bring my stuff to school, and I don't sell drugs. Anyone who tells you different is a fucking liar," Nick yelled and glared back at the lionesses. Nick had built a reputation in high school for being a guy who could get you things, although he had refused to delve into seriously criminal sales like drugs or alcohol. Unfortunately, there was a presumptuous pride of girls who insisted that he could get then marijuana because he was a fox. He had been so insulted by their insistence that he decided that instead of getting angry, he would play a trick on the dumb girls. He went out and collected a bag full of grass clippings and sold it to them at a nice high price. Apparently they weren't amused by the gag because the next day the superintendent received an "anonymous" tip that he had been selling drugs at the school. He stared daggers at them as they turned and walked away with a gloating swing to their hips.

"Copying and distributing copyrighted material is a felony son. Make the right decision and come clean with whatever else you've got," the cop insisted.

Nick let out a harsh laugh, "Screw the right decision. I remember this, I trusted you and told you about selling those bitchy lions grass clippings and you recommended me for 2 years juvenile detention and 5 years probation. That ended up being one of the worst fucking decisions of my life. Hell, my life is nothing but a string of bad decisions. Biting that pig was a bad decision. Hooking up with that bitch Victoria, that was a bad decision. Selling Mr. Big a skunk butt rug, that was a bad decision. Not killing that punk, little, bitch beaver when I had the fucking chance. That was a bad fucking decision!" Nick screamed at the confused looking officer, "Is this all there is to watching my life flash before my eyes? Just replaying every bad fucking decision I ever made? Huh? Well fuck that! Bring on the angels, drag me down to hell, this judgement or whatever it is is over. I don't give a shit anymore!"

"Whoa friend, let's just take a deep breath," came a stern but familiar voice as a small paw touched his arm. Nick jumped back in surprise and looked down at a little silver bunny with large violet eyes in a police uniform. Her serious face turned sweet as she smiled at him and asked, "How about you and I go for a walk, cool our heads, yeah?"

Nick stared at her dumbfounded, "You, you're not supposed to be here."

She laughed a charming little giggle that instantly seemed to calm the fox. She waved for him to follow as she walked away. Nick quickly moved to catch up with her as she opened a door for him. He saw that it didn't lead to the lot behind the school like it should have, but to the cab of a sky tram. He walked inside and soon the two of them were rising out of the rainforest district canopy and into a brilliant sunrise.

"Alright kid, be honest. We both saw those CDs and everything else. Is that really what you want to do with your life? Sell counterfeit and ill gotten goods?" the bunny officer spoke in a warm hopeful tone.

"Heh, kid. That's funny," he said as he straightened his tie.

The rabbit officer looked him up and down, "If you say so. Really though, what do you want most in this life?"

Nick leaned on the sky tram railing and looked out over the city that was slowly coming to life. He gave the question some serious thought for a good long minute before he finally let out a sigh. "I guess, if it really came down to it, there is really only one thing I ever wanted."

The rabbit placed her paw on his elbow. He remembered the last time they were in this position. He had shied from her last time, but that was before they saved the city from a chemical terrorist, before he had become her official partner and before they became mates. He put his paw over hers and smiled.

"I really just wanted mammals to respect me. I got tired of others assuming I'm up to no good, just because I'm a fox. I just wanted a chance to prove myself."

"Did you really think being a street hustler was the best way to go about that?"

"No, you're right. I guess, I just got swept up in the thrill of making money. You'd be surprised what some mammals are willing to pay for and I was really good at it too. I could sell ice in tundra town," he explained with a grim laugh.

The tram gave a lurch and when he looked up he could see the ZPD precinct ahead of him. Reporters were mulling about getting ready for a press conference. The little officer stepped out of the tram and headed towards the building and Nick followed her. When they reached the doors she stopped and turned around. She fished out a piece of yellow paper from her pocket and handed it to him as she turned her large violet eyes up to look him in the eye.

"I don't know if it makes any more or less money but it is pretty thrilling," she said as he took the sheet of paper. "I can't guarantee that animals will respect you either, but mammals do have a tendency to look at you differently when you wear the blue uniform."

Nick looked at the slip of paper. He didn't even have to unfold it to know it was an application form for the ZPD. He clutched the paper to his chest, "You know, aside from my own mother, you might have been the first mammal to ever believe in me. We might have had a rocky start, but you gave me a chance, which was more than most."

The little rabbit smiled up at him and reached for his paw. She held it gently and asked, "So, will you do it then? Will you be my partner?"

"Ha, that almost sounds like a marriage proposal. Yes, Carrots, I would love to be your partner," he said with a smile. He could feel tears of joy fill his eyes and he closed them and leaned towards the bunny to give her a small kiss when suddenly the ground slipped from his feet. He quickly opened his eyes and saw that he was falling through a dark nothingness. He let out a scream as his arms flailed for something to grasp ahold of. At last his hand hit something and he grasped tight to it. His body swung down, yanking at his arms till they nearly popped out of their sockets. He looked down, his heart racing from the fear, to see a street below him with cars zipping by at breakneck speeds.

"Rain Forest District: 1,000 foot falls!"

Nick could hear the familiar call of the ZPD drill instructor as other cadets swung by him, passing him on their own sets of monkey bars with ease.

"Your sly-ass attitude won't save you from a fall from these heights Mr. Fox." Nick looked behind him and saw the towering form of the drill instructor stomping across the bars. She was twice her normal height, which for a polar bear was already large, and her arms and muzzle had turned grotesquely large and deformed. She stomped towards Nick, shaking the bars and shouting at him, "You're dead Foxy Loxy! Dead! Dead! Dead! DEAD!"

"Nick! Come on!" the silver bunny was ahead of him now, perched on a bar like a monkey as she waved at him frantically. Behind him the monstrous bear slammed her great paw onto the bars which sent a shockwave through the frame and nearly shook Nick from his spot. Panicked, he swung his body and reached for the next bar. He swung himself from bar to bar and built up a rhythm of swing, grab, release, swing, grab, release as the great bear roared behind him and the rabbit hopped from bar to bar above him.

Nick's chest and arms ached as he swung and reached over and over again trying to escape the rampaging beast. He continued reaching for bar after bar until finally the next bar slipped from his extended fingers. He swung back and dangled, one armed, high above the city streets. His chest heaved and his body felt like it was on fire as he panted heavily.

"Just let go Fox! You don't belong here!" The bear roared, "Go back to the streets where you belong. You're nothing! You're nobody! Just give up and go home!"

"Don't listen to her. You can do this," the little rabbit was above him again, urging him on as a few drops of rain began to pelt Nick in the face.

"I can't," he cried back between ragged breaths, "the bars are too far apart. It's too hard."

"Come on Slick," she yelled, the rain quickly turned into a downpour, "If I can clear these bar with my short, little arms, so can you!"

The rain quickly drenched his fur and cooled his burning skin. With a great heave, he swung his body back and reached for the bar again. He grasped the bar firmly and began the rhythmic pattern again, swing, grab, release, swing, grab, release. His muscles ached but he forced himself to continue, chasing after the rabbit away from the terrible beast. A ledge came into view beyond the curtain of rain.

"You're doing great! You can do this!" the doe called from above. Her voice was barely audible over the rain. Nick continued his swing and reach but on the next grab, his rain soaked paw slid over the slick bar and he lost his grip, just as his other paw relaxed his grip on the previous bar. He felt a moment of weightlessness, his heart sank and time slowed, as he realized his fatal error. He could hear the rabbit scream his name as his sense of time returned and he turned to watch the busy street below him zoom closer and closer as he speed towards the ground. Another scream escaped his maw as his arms flailed once again for anything to grasp hold of. But there were no palm leaves, vines or even demented monkey bars to catch him. He covered his head with his arms and braced for impact even though he knew it was a pointless gesture.

When the impact came, it wasn't nearly as life ending as he had expected, as he fell through the surface of the street into frigid water. The shock nearly took what little air he had in his lungs. He glanced up and could see a single patch of light filter down. Quickly he swam towards the light, his chest and arms still aching from the monkey bars. He had nearly reached the surface of the water when he could feel something grasp at his leg. It gave a sharp tug and he kicked it away. He looked down to what grabbed him and was shocked to see the smiling skull of some unidentifiable canine. Its long bony claws reached up for Nick. Frightened, he turned back and swam faster and faster towards the surface. He could see the silhouette of rabbit ears beyond the surface of the water as the claws of the undead monster below him grazed his legs. Her paws plunged into the water, reaching for him, but that was when the claws below him managed to grab his leg once again. He tried kicking out against the phantom, only to have another set of claws grab his other leg. They pulled him down as more skeletal claws pulled at his tail and grasped his pants. He kicked furiously but every paw that released him was quickly replaced by three more. The light source above him grew smaller and smaller and his chest burned for another breath as he was dragged lower and lower.

 _No! I was so close!_

His burning chest couldn't take the pain any longer as he released the unusable air that was in his lungs and pulled in water to replace it. His body instantly began to cough and spasm as he fought pointlessly for breath.

 _This can't be it! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!_

He continued to fight and thrash, even after his mind grew numb and his vision grew black. He fought until all consciousness left him and his body simply sunk motionless into the darkness.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank everyone for all the great reviews! They certainly make writing a lot more fun!**


	19. Rabbit Among Foxes

Judy leaned up against a street lamp as she reached for a bottle of water and an orange container of pills in her messenger bag. Her head was throbbing so hard that she could feel it in her teeth and she felt sick to her stomach. She never expected that a walk around town could be so taxing, but after the first hour of her trip, she began to feel the results of her injuries and part of her regretted taking on this personal quest.

"Lazy, damn fox," she muttered as she pressed her paws against her eyes to alleviate the pain. "As soon as he wakes up, we are going straight to mammal resources and he is going to finish filling out his paperwork, and he is going to show me how to unlock his phone, and he is giving me his emergency contact info, AND he's getting a smack upside the head."

She took another swig of water from her bottle and waved the summer heat away from her face before pressing on towards the city central branch of Lemmings, Lemmings & Lemmings. She kept walking, despite the pain, until she came up to a fluffy white fox selling paw shaped frozen treats out of an ice chest.

"Pawpsicles! Get your new and improved Pawpsicles! 100% organic to give you that mid-afternoon boost of energy without the sugar crash of traditional frozen treats!" The fox barked pleasantly, her amber eyes sparkled as she began exchanging treats for cash to a dozen lemmings that were streaming, single file, from the bank. Judy stood back feeling nostalgic as she watched the almost familiar scene until the line of lemmings faded and the vixen was left with only a handful of frozen treats.

"New and Improved, huh? I take it you aren't scamming your formula from ice cream shops anymore?" Judy asked as she handed the vixen a couple of dollars for the frozen treat.

"Ice cream shops?" the vixen gave Judy a confused look as she handed her a popsicle, " Oh, no! I assure you these are paw made in our tundra town location and made with fresh squeezed berries." Her voice was almost too upbeat and chipper, even for Judy who pressed the icy treat against the roof of her mouth, hoping to numb her pain.

"I'm sure," Judy replied as she bit down, it's temperature did seem to ease her head. "Is Finnick around anywhere?"

The vixen suddenly dropped her airheaded smile and glared at the rabbit. Even her voice changed in accent and tone when she turned and called angrily to her shorter partner. The tiny fox came out of his hiding spot by the refuse bins and threw a spent cigarette to the sidewalk and stomped it out with his little paw. He glared up at the rabbit but his expression quickly changed when he saw the bandage around her neck and the deep, dark bruise that could be seen under the light fur of her head.

"What the hell happened to you?" He asked with one eyebrow cocked high.

"You could say Nick and I lost a fight," she replied somberly, "Nick got it worse and MR couldn't get a hold of his emergency contacts. I was wondering if you knew how to get in touch with his family."

Finnick looked her up and down for a moment before he shook his head, "That idiot just couldn't stay out of trouble could he? I told him to stick with these easy jobs. It makes good money and doesn't piss anyone off. I suppose I could get in touch with his family, though, I'm sure they are going to want to know what happened."

Finnick gave the rabbit a knowing look and she could tell she wasn't just going to walk away with a simple phone number, just because she asked for it. She sighed, "He's hurt, badly. He's laying in St. Jumbaux's. He and I were attacked and he was stabbed. He's alive, but due to complications the doctors decided to induce a coma. They were hoping it would help him recover, but it's also possible that he might not wake up. I just wanted to let his family know."

Finnick's ears were low and Judy couldn't miss the small snarl that formed on his muzzle. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "He was attack, huh? Who attacked him?"

"I don't know how much is being released to the public, so keep this inside your maw. We were attacked by the Lovebird Killer, a beaver by the name of Hank Trapper," she said with a tone of exasperation. Judy could see the little fox's paws shake as he fought to keep his composure as he spoke. Meanwhile the white vixen was slowly backing away from them.

"I've heard of this Lovebird Killer, he goes for a certain, uh, demographic, yeah? Last I knew, Nick wasn't the sort of fox that was into that sort of thing? Why, exactly, was he attacked?" Finnick shot her a dangerous glare.

Judy braced herself before she answered his question, "Well, Nick and I, uh, we were investigating the case."

"Don't lie to me!" he interrupted.

"I'm not!" she shot back. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes. "He and I were investigating the case and I got overly excited and I made the terrible mistake of kissing him in front of a news camera. Yes, Nick is in the hospital, and on the verge of death because I did something stupid. I screwed up and Nick is paying for it. I admit it. Is that what you want to hear? I'm his partner and I let him down. I take full responsibility, ok?"

Judy tried to look brave, even though her head began throbbing again and tears ran down her cheek. Finnick gave her another once over and his tension seemed to melt away. He nodded somberly before he gave her his reply, "You came looking for his family. You found it. Now get lost."

"Oh, um, ok. Thank you Finnick," she stammered, relieved that he didn't blow up on her, even though she certainly felt like she deserved it.

She turned to walk away when he called out to her, "You said his name was Hank Trapper? Have your people caught him yet?"

"Uh, no. He's still on the loose," she replied.

"I'll keep my ear to the ground, see if I can't get a few more eyes on the streets here," Finnick nodded. Judy wasn't quite sure what he meant but for some reason she felt like she should be grateful to him. She gave him a small smile before she turned back towards the hospital.

* * *

A few hours had passed and Judy sat, curled up in a chair across from Nick's bed as he lay silently. The only sound in the room came from the quiet whirring and beeping of the machines that monitored his vital signs. She stared listlessly out the window and into the setting sun. Her lunch sat on a small table, still in the bag, untouched. She had every intention earlier of eating it and remaining active while she sat with her partner. She had wanted to talk to him so he could hear her voice and she wanted to get to know all the nurses to try and better understand his condition. All those intentions disappeared as soon as she walked into the room and saw the tubes and wires that ran from him to the multitude of machines. Her mind instantly turned off like a switch. She moved to him to grasp his paw, to touch his arm, to kiss his brow, to show any kind of affection, but when she came close, it was as if she felt suddenly unworthy. Her conversation with Finnick played over in her head and she knew that it really was her fault that he was in this condition.

He would have never gotten hurt if she hadn't been foolish and gotten herself abducted, if she hadn't lost her cool and kissed him in front of the news cameras, if she never asked him to join the ZPD to begin with. Nick probably would have been better off if he had never even met her.

Judy considered turning and walking out of the hospital right there and then, to distance herself from him, to protect him from her influence. But she didn't. She found a chair by the window and she crawled into it and curled herself into a small ball and stared out the window until the sun began to set.

It was at that point that an elderly vixen entered the room. Her red fur was speckled with gray up through her eye brows and across her muzzle. She didn't even notice the silver rabbit in the corner before she approached bed. Judy watched silently as she gazed over the tubes and wires. She clasped her paws over her long muzzle as the tears welled up in her eyes. Judy wondered if she should just stay silent or if she should make her presence known before the elderly fox broke into tears. _Maybe I can pretend to be asleep_ , she thought glumly before she decided against that plan and hopped out of her chair.

"Mrs. Wilde?"

The elderly fox looked at her startled for a moment before she sniffed back her tears and nodded at the rabbit.

"Hi, I'm Judy Hopps, Nick's partner. We met once before, at Nick's graduation. I've been sitting with your son, but I can leave if you would like," she offered.

"No. No, dear. That's quite alright," Nick's mother continued to give short nods as she did her best, though failed, to hide her emotions. "You can fill me in on how my son is doing."

Judy nodded back as she tried to give her the simplest explanation of his state as she understood it. Mrs. Wilde simply nodded.

"Can I get you a chair?" Judy finally asked after she was done explaining things. Mrs. Wilde nodded and Judy pulled over both of the armchairs that were in the room. Nick's mother sat herself down in her chair and pressed the end of her muzzle to the tips of her folded paws and she looked like she was either deep in thought or praying silently, Judy couldn't tell which. Judy curled back up into an upright fetal position in her own chair. The two females sat in silence as the sun continued to creep below the horizon. Neither mammal moved more than an inch and they both stared at the injured tod. The room grew dark and neither mammal moved to turn the lights on.

"Why are you still here Ms. Hopps?" Judy nearly jumped when the old vixen's voice came from the darkness. She turned to Judy and her nocturnal eyes caught the faintest glimmer of light, and glowed eerily at the bunny.

Judy fought the instinctual urge to run and hide from the spooky fox eyes, so she did her best to simply respond to the question, "He's my partner. I want to make sure he's ok."

"I see," Mrs. Wilde responded, her glowing eyes never wavering from the small rabbit. "That is quite some dedication for someone who is just a coworker."

"Well, he's more than just a coworker. He's my friend. He's the first friend I made when I came to Zootopia," Judy explained nervously. Her nose twitched and she squirmed under the vixen's unwavering, unblinking gaze.

"He's your friend? Is that all?" she questioned. "You'll have to excuse me dear, Nick never did like talking about his personal life to me, although he did mention a rather annoying rabbit that seemed to catch his attention. I couldn't really understand why he would go and change his career and entire life just by meeting one measly rabbit."

"Oh, he, uh, he didn't tell you? We had a bit of an adventure, the two of us. I guess he had developed a taste for the police work," Judy's throat felt tight as she tried to converse with that elderly fox.

"I find that rather unlikely. If I had to guess, I think he got a taste of something else," Mrs. Wilde said, her tone turning vaguely threatening. "You know my boy left behind a lot of good friends when he decided to join that academy. The cops of Zootopia have not always had the best reputation among some species in this city, including foxes. There's a lot of stigma that we have to face and I doubt very much that he would forget that so quickly. I think you must have done something to get under my boy's fur. I'm curious as to what you did to him."

"Did? I didn't do anything to him. Like I said, he's my friend. He joined the ZPD because he proved himself to be smart, brave and loyal and I said I'd like to keep working with him. I'm glad I asked him to join because I couldn't ask for a better partner," Judy explained, slightly offended.

"Loyal?" Mrs. Wilde's eyes narrowed, "That's an interesting trait for a rabbit to value, isn't it?"

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Judy shot, even though she knew fully well where this was heading.

"It means, you wouldn't really be sitting here, for hours, entertaining a half dead fox if he was _just_ your friend and my son wouldn't change his entire life, _ju_ st because some passing bunny suggested it. We both know the 'prolific' reputation you rabbits have, but my son has been burned by wicked females before. At some point I can no longer sit by and watch him get hurt, over and over again."

"Excuse you!" Judy had to keep herself from shouting, "I'll have you know that our 'reputation' has nothing to do with our lack of 'loyalty.' Rabbits are just as quick to mate for life as any other mammal, and for your information, yes, Nick and I have mated. He is a wonderful tod and I couldn't be happier with any other mate, fox or rabbit. Mrs. Wilde, I love your son and he loves me and I'm not like the other vixens he's dated."

"No, you're not," the vixen replied quietly as she rose from her chair, her glowing eyes floated in the darkness and Judy couldn't tell if the light reflecting off her fangs were from a smile or a snarl. "Do you think a little bunny can handle a fox like Nick? Do you think you can take what it means to be apart of fox's life?"

Judy smiled in the darkness, the vixen's hostility was suddenly clear to her. "Lady," she smirked, "I am not a rabbit to be messed with. I have taken down all sorts of mammals from slippery weasels to giant rhinos. Any mammal who makes the mistake of underestimating me will be sorry. I am not leaving Nick's side and I will do everything within my power to make sure he never gets hurt like this again. I will not fail your son again, Mrs. Wilde."

"Well, that's a relief I suppose," the vixen let out a soft sigh and turned her gaze back to her son. "Us mothers can't help but worry over our children and I know that boy has got some skeletons in his closet." Judy relaxed back into her chair, relieved though she jerked forward again when a weak voice called from the bed.

"Don't you tell her anything, Ma."


End file.
